Journey Into the Unknown
by rocketshiptomars
Summary: What if Lily and Harry had escaped from Voldemort, that one disastrous Halloween? Rated T for mild language. Might change.
1. Chapter 1

_**Halloween**_

Lily lifted Harry off the ground lightly, resting him on her hip.

"Let's get your costume on!"

Harry giggled in her ear, playing with a strand of her hair as she walked him up and into his room. She grabbed the little pumpkin costume she had picked out for him. Harry shrieked at her, shaking his head. His little green eyes narrowed and he set his little lips into a pout.

"Come on Harry, put it on."

After minutes of struggling, Harry was finally in the costume.

"James!" Lily called down the hall. "Look at Harry!"

James came into the room, rubbing his glasses. He took one look at Harry and burst out laughing.

"Don't laugh!"

"Lily, why did you put this outfit on our son?"

"It seemed logical. It _is_ Halloween and all."

"I don't think he likes it."

"Of course he likes it!"Lily said stubbornly.

HaHJames rubbed his hair back and forth, and then bent down to pick up his son. "What do you think Harry? Do you like it?"

"No!" Harry scrunched up his face and tugged at the little stem hat. It fell onto the floor and rolled under the crib.

"Alright, alright." Lily said, and lifted Harry out of James's arms. "I'll change you into some pajamas."

James walked downstairs again while Lily changed Harry into little blue footie pajamas. She set him down in his crib while she put away his pumpkin costume, maybe to force him into it again later and get a picture. Harry crawled over to his teddy and grabbed it, rocking back and forth, watching his mommy.

"Let's go see daddy." Lily cooed, taking him and the bear out of the crib. They walked down the stairs together, with Harry bouncing his bear the whole time. James was in the living room, reading the latest _Prophet. _

"What's the news today?" Lily asked, sitting next to him.

"Voldemort, Voldemort, Barty Crouch stirring up shit…" James trailed off, reading the news more.

"James! Baby in the room!" Lily said, covering Harry's ears. Harry looked up from the bear at his father questioningly.

"Oh Lily, he doesn't care." James said, lifting him up, and Lily walked into the kitchen.

"James! Do you want some pumpkin juice?" She called, opening the fridge.

"No thanks, Lil." He called back. "You want to see something fun Harry?"

"Ya!" Harry squealed, clapping his hands. James lifted up his wand and started to shoot colored clouds of smoke out of it. Harry giggled happily and tried to catch them in his little fist, only to have them disappear. He frowned, and waited for James to make more.

"You silly boy."

Lily then walked back into the room, her red hair falling around her face.

"Guess whose bedtime it is?" She sang, tucking her hair back behind her ear.

"Aw, already?" James said jokingly, forcing a mock pout.

"Not you, James!" She laughed. "Give me Harry."

James scooped him up, Harry's black hair falling back a bit. "He looks just like you." Lily said, tickling the baby.

"He has your eyes." James said, giving her a peck on the cheek as she walked out of the room. He flopped back onto the sofa, yawning and throwing his wand onto the table. Lily walked up the stairs, singing a soft lullaby to Harry. The house was peaceful.

_Bang!_

The door crashed open, knocking out one of the lights. James sprinted into the hall, and saw the hooded white man. His eyes widened in shock. _Peter, that bloody bastard!_

"Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off!"

James glared at Voldemort, who simply sneered back. James stuck his hand into his back pocket, ready to attack-

_Oh no._

His wand was still lying on the coffee table.

Voldemort laughed, a sickly, high pitched, inhuman sound.

"Not so tough now, Potter." He said, no higher than a murmur.

Upstairs, Lily ran towards Harry's room. She heard a laugh, turned, and then-

"Avada Kedavra."

Voldemort could have just been saying 'Accio' for he said these words so calmly. They had no meaning to him. An eerie green light filled the hall, and Lily saw James fall back, his glasses flying off, and he hit the wall. There was a sickly _crunch, _and then it was quiet.

"James!" Lily screamed, unable to contain it. The cold white face glared up at her, and she ran into Harry's room. She slammed the door, holding back sobs, and began barricading it. Harry's rocking chair, his toy chest, anything.

"Dada?" He asked, looking up at her. His eyes asked: _is he coming back up to play? _

Lily just hugged him, pressing him close to her chest. But the moment didn't last very long.

Voldemort forced the door open with his wand, and the objects barricading it flew into the wall, leaving a giant hole. Lily screamed, dropping Harry in his crib. He crawled over to his bear and started chewing on the ear happily, just thinking it was daddy under that cloak, making pretty lights.

Lily guarded the crib, throwing her arms around it. "Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry!"

"Stand aside, you silly girl, stand aside now." Voldemort said, unfazed by her pleading.

"Not Harry, please no, take me instead, kill me-"

"Stand aside. Stand aside, girl!"

Lily had to think fast. James was dead. Her son was on that path, and so was she. She whipped around, grabbing Harry and the bear.

_What do I do?_

It was close. It was split second thinking.

"Avada-"

Lily concentrated, as hard as she could.

"Kedav-"

_Pop._

Lily and Harry were gone, just as green light filled the room. Screams of outrage filled the night, as Harry and Lily began a journey into the unknown.

**AN: Okay, hello there lovely person. Thank you for reading this, I nearly cried while writing it, it was horrible to think of. But, you know, Lily's alive?  
>Please review, I want to finish this story, I think it will get really good. Any ideas? Tell me. I love you!<strong>


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: This has a bit of swearing in it. Sorry. Anyways hope you like it!**

_Pop._

Lily stumbled over, holding Harry in her arms. His face was scrunched up in fear, and he was crying. He wasn't used to apparition.

Lily felt a searing pain in her left arm, and looked to see a chunk of skin missing. She was splinched. It was bleeding profusely, and was getting all over Harry and her. She covered it quickly with her shirt, and looked around.

_Where am I?_

The darkness finally shifted, and Lily saw the house of Sirius Black in front of her. _Of course. _Sirius would have been the first place to go to, as he was also protected by the fidelius charm. She ran up, still holding back the pent up sobs inside of her. She knew she was going to crack soon.

She knocked on the door slowly, wondering if Sirius was still awake. She waited…nothing. She knocked again, a little harder, and then turned to sooth Harry, who still had tears rolling down his cheeks. Inside, she heard footsteps, creaking along the familiar wood floor, and then the rusty doorknob turned.

The door opened, and there was Sirius. He was only wearing a pair of blue boxers that had moose on them, that James had gotten for him as a joke last Christmas. His long black hair was matted in places. He looked strangely at what he saw: His godson and sister-in-law, bloodstained, one crying and one who looked emotionless.

"L-Lily?" Sirius finally said, after a moment of silence. "Are you okay? Why-what-where's James?"

Lily looked at him, tears filling her big green eyes.

"Sirius, hun?" Came a voice from the other room. A girl with long brown hair and pale skin walked in, wearing a pair of sweats and a tank top. "Are you-oh."

"Aden, erm, this is my sister-in-law, Lily. Lily, this is my…Aden why don't you go back to the room?"

"'Kay." She said, wrapping her hair into a bun with her wand.

"Lily, why are you-?"

He was cut off by Lily hugging him tightly.

"Lily?_ Where's James?"_ Sirius asked, more urgent than before. Lily just shook her head into his chest, and she started sobbing. Harry was squished between them, and he looked up at Sirius questioningly.

"Dada..?" He asked Sirius.

"Dada's not here right now." Sirius said, his eyes filling with tears. As unsure of the situation as he was, he only knew one thing:

_It was bad._

"Lily, come inside. Please, I need you to tell me everything."

Sirius took Harry into his arms, and led Lily inside and onto the couch. Tears were still streaming down her face, and she would give out a little sob every now and then.

Sirius set Harry down in the little playpen that was always set up for him, and then walked back over to Lily. "Bloody hell, Lily." Sirius said as she got up. "What did you do to your arm?"

They both looked at her bloody left arm, which had soaked through her shirt. Lily winced at it, she hated blood. "I splinched it."

Sirius ran into the kitchen, coming back with a bottle of _Essence of Dittany._ He unscrewed the cap, and went to pull back the sleeves of her shirt. He dropped some of the liquid on her arm, and they watched as the skin grew back, making it whole again. Sirius then sat down on the couch, with Lily close behind.

"Now Lily, tell me._ What. Happened?" _Sirius said firmly.

Lily told him the whole story, up until James's death. That was when she started sobbing uncontrollably again, and this time Sirius let out a few tears of his own. He put his arm around her, rocking her back and forth, calming her down, even though he was worked up.

"Pettigrew! That damn traitor! I swear, if I get my hands on him I will choke the life outta him!" Sirius exclaimed, getting worked up. "We trusted him Lily! All of us! And look at us now!"

"I k-know." Lily said weakly. Sirius saw how broken she was, and calmed down a bit.

"Lily, can you tell me the rest?"

Lily shook her head silently.

"Lils, come on. You can do it. Just tell me the rest."

She took a deep, ragged breath, and started again. "H-h-he came into Harry's r-room, and he-he tried to _kill_ me!" Lily sobbed again. "He was a-about to, b-b-but I apparated here."

Sirius's eyes widened. "That must have been-what-two seconds to decide and get out? Lily-_how _did you ever manage it?" He smiled at her, wiping away his tears. "I always knew you were tough."

"T-thanks." Lily said, grinning a little. The flow of tears became slower, and she got up to walk to Harry. "Oh god, he's a mess."

She was right. Harry's usually fluffy, wild hair was matted down with blood, and his blue pajamas now had red streaks. He lifted up one of his hands in greeting, and they saw he had a deep cut in the middle of it from the apparation.

"Come here big boy." Lily lifted him out gently. "Sirius, you can go back to…Eden? I'll take care of Harry."

Harry squirmed a little, and turned to face Lily. "Whe' Dada?" He asked again.

"Dada's not here right now Harry."

Harry twisted his face into a pout-slash-glare. "Dada!" He shrieked, starting to cry. "Wan' Dada!"

"Harry-Dada can't-be here right now." Lily said, forcing every word out. They seemed lodged in her throat, not wanting to come out. Harry whimpered some more, and Sirius looked at him with sadness.

_The poor boy._ Sirius thought. _He'll never know his dad. He'll never remember him._

"I-I'm going to go explain to Eden." Sirius said, needing to go somewhere else so he wouldn't start bawling. "You guys can have the guest room-there's a bath and stuff in there."

Lily nodded her head, carrying Harry into the bathroom. She started to run the water, then turned around and took off his pajamas.

"Come on Harry, let's take a bath!"

Harry gurgled happily, playing in the water, and Lily took her time washing all the blood off him. When he got out she wrapped him with a towel so big it wrapped around him twice.

"Mama?" He asked. "Whe' Dada?"

Lily sighed. She knew if she explained this to him, it would be all over for her. She would break down again.

"He's far away, Harry."

These words stayed with her all night; as she put him in new pajamas, as he lay down to go to sleep, as she took a shower, and when she went to bed.

_He's far away._

**AN: PLEASEE read and review! I only want reviews because I need to know what I can do better on, and it makes me want to update more. Xoxo **


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning, Lily woke up to bright light streaming in through the large window. She rolled over sleepily, moaning. _Where am I? _She wondered sleepily, not remembering the night before.

She opened her eyes and looked around at the familiar setting of Sirius's guest room, and remembered the whole night before. James. Voldemort. Harry. All the crying. _Everything._

"Mama!" Harry said, crawling over to her. He landed on her stomach delightedly, gurgling some more. He had no clue what was going on. His black hair stood straight up from sleep.

"Come on Harry." Lily said, her voice scratchy from crying herself to sleep. She scooped him up, and walked into the little kitchen, where Aden was. She was sitting at the table, reading _The Daily Prophet_, while flicking her wand at the pancakes on the stove.

"Sirius is still asleep." She said monotonously, not raising her head from the paper.

_Wow. Now? Really?_ Lily thought angrily.

Lily and Aden had never particularly liked each other during their years at Hogwarts. She had been a Ravenclaw, and one of Lily's biggest rivals in brains and looks. Aden was stunningly beautiful, with dark waist length hair and bright blue eyes. By the second week of first year, half the boys already fancied her. She was also very smart, if Lily didn't have her hand up right after the question Aden's would be up.

Aden had never liked Lily either, because Aden had always liked James. James had liked Lily. Lily knew that Sirius had liked Aden on and off through the years, but she never knew something would actually come out of it.

"Thanks for telling me." Lily sneered at her, sitting down at the table. Aden flipped one of the pancakes over with a hard jab of her wand. It was silent for a long while, with only the little sounds of Harry playing in the playpen with a stuffed owl.

"Hey guys." Sirius said, coming into the kitchen. His voice, like Lily's was scratchy. Maybe even more. He kissed Aden on the cheek while Lily rolled her eyes. He was still wearing nothing but the blue boxers, which showed off the muscles he had built up over six years of Quidditch. "Hello Harry!"

Harry waved at him, not looking up from the little toy owl. Sirius groaned and poured himself a glass of pumpkin juice.

"Aden? The pancakes?" He said, pointing at them. Aden shrugged.

"They'll get themselves when they're done."

Right then, three plates flew out of the cabinets and the pancakes onto them. The table magically set itself, and the food flew in front of them.

Harry's eyes widened at this grand use of magic. He clapped his hands, making Aden smile widely at him. She flicked her wand at the fridge, and a full bottle flew out of it and landed in front of Harry. His mouth formed a little o, and he took it and started drinking.

"Aden, can I see that?" Lily said, pointing at the newspaper she had just set down. Aden shrugged and passed it towards her. Lily flipped her hair back and started reading:

_**He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named Strikes Again, But Were There Survivors?**_

_On the night of October 31__st__, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named set sight on his next target: The home of James and Lily Potter. He attempted to murder the family for unknown reasons, but only succeeded with one murder: James Potter. James's body was found in the living room, with the obvious effects of the Avada Kedavra curse. However, Lily and Harry Potter were nowhere to be found. They had seemingly disappeared, and now their whereabouts are unknown._

Lily made a choking sound, and set down the paper. Above the article was a picture that had been taken a few months after Harry's birth, with the whole family smiling and waving. James looked so-alive. She got up from the table, and ran into the bathroom closest to the kitchen.

Lily locked the door quickly, and looked into the mirror. Her face was red and splotchy, and her green eyes were dull and bloodshot. She turned the water on full blast, splashing her face. She sat down on the ground, a gut wrenching pain filling her stomach. She closed her eyes, and leaned her head back against the wall-

_Lily and James walked down the path to The Three Broomsticks. The wind was harsh and cold, blowing Lily's red hair into her face. James grabbed her hand, and they raced inside the cozy inn. Madam Rosemerta worked the bar, and waved at them as they walked through the door. When Lily turned to look for a table, Rosemerta winked at James, he had been talking about going out with Lily to her for the longest time. _

_James pulled back Lily's seat for her, and she blushed at this his charm. He ordered two butterbeers, and they sat there, waiting for them._

"_I've wanted to go out with you for a long time, Evans." James smiled at her. "Who would've known it would take seven years!"_

"_Glad you have such amazing 'patience'" Lily said sarcastically._

_They drank their butterbeers together, talking about everything from Quidditch to their favorite candy. When they finally got up to leave, Lily was a bit tipsy from the butterbeer. _

"_James, I-I can't go back to school like this!" She laughed. _

"_Well we don't have to go back to school yet." He said, raising an eyebrow. They walked outside, hand in hand. _

"_I th-think it got c-c-c-colder." Lily said, her teeth chattering. James looked over at her and removed his coat._

"_No James, you don't-"_

"_Lily, I want to."_

_He draped his jacket over her shoulders, and they walked along the path together. They stopped at the end where a long gate blocked off the shrieking shack._

"_That place is really scary." Lily said, giggling a little._

"_Not really." James murmured, looking at it with a hint of smugness on his face. _

_Lily turned to James and said, "I really like you James." _

"_I've always really liked you Evans."_

"_Always?" She looked up at him with wide eyes._

"_Always."_

_He leaned in close, and her eyes fluttered shut. She wrapped her arms around his neck and stood up on the tips of her toes, leaning in closer. Their lips connected, and Lily felt a surge of warmth flood through her. She pressed harder, getting more intense. The kiss seemed to last a million years, and then…it was done. Lily pulled away, breathing heavily._

"_Good one Evans." James said, smiling cockily at her._

Lily opened her eyes, snapping back into reality. She felt tears streaming down her cheeks, and she was breathing heavily, as though she had just kissed James in real life.

"Lily?" Sirius said softly, knocking on the door. "Are you okay?"

Lily shook her head, and got off the floor slowly. Sirius pulled her into a hug, and they stood there like that.

"I m-m-miss him s-so much!" Lily sobbed into Sirius's chest.

"Me too." He said, pulling her in closer.

**AN: The James/Lily moments are so hard to write **** I die inside a little, and I always start crying. Anyways, please review! I have gotten so many alerts on this, but NO REVIEWS! But to all those who added it, thanks. I love you **** now review! Xoxo**


	4. Chapter 4

"I am going to kill Peter!"

"Sirius! Calm down!"

"No!"

Sirius was pacing back and forth across his bedroom, fuming. Aden was sitting on his bed, brushing out her long hair.

"I don't understand why it's so upsetting to you." Aden said nonchalantly.

"Did you not see how broken Lily is? She's an emotional wreck! All day, she's been crying. She hasn't even been eating! I'm surprised she's even taking a shower right now!" Sirius said angrily.

"This isn't your problem."

"I lost my best friend."

Aden finally looked up from her hair and saw tears in Sirius's grey eyes. "I lost him, and he's never coming back."

"Sirius-"

"I want revenge."

"Sirius! No!" Aden said as he turned away from her. She leapt up and grabbed his arm. "You know how your temper is. You go out looking for revenge, you find him, and everything will just blow up."

"I don't care."

"You could go to Azkaban!"

"If I get revenge…" Sirius turned towards her. There were a few tears running down his face, and his eyes gleamed brightly. "It will be worth it."

"Honey, you don't know what Peter is capable of at this moment! You never thought he would rat out Lily and James, but he did. He might be able to turn a situation like this around and pin it on you!"

Sirius sighed and sat down. "I have to."

"You _can't._" Aden said solemnly. "You're not going to win this argument."

Sirius knew she was right, but his anger still flared inside of him. He turned, and looked into Aden's blue eyes, and his anger turned to passion.

"And why won't I win it?" He asked flirtily, raising an eyebrow.

"Because I'm too smart to argue with?" Aden said, inching closer to him.

"Sure." Sirius smirked.

They inched closer to each other, until their lips locked. Sirius ran his hand through her hair, the other hand resting on her back. Aden wrapped her arms around him, resting her hands on his shoulders. They kissed passionately, falling back onto the bed.

"Sirius?" Came a voice from down the hall. Sirius shot back from Aden so quickly he fell onto the floor. Aden let out a burst of laughter as he got up, rubbing his head.

"Yeah Lil?" He called back, glaring at Aden. She covered her mouth and reduced the laughter to giggling.

Lily burst into the room wearing the same clothes she had worn last night. She said, "Well, first off, I have no clothes."

Aden let out a peal of laughter, but silenced when Sirius narrowed his eyes at her.

"And I don't have a wand."

"You don't have a wand?" Sirius exclaimed. "But-how?"

"Well, I had left it in my room back home. I had no real use for it…before…you know." Lily closed her eyes, holding back more tears.

"Oh." Sirius said, rubbing his hair. "Well, we can get you a new one, right?"

"I don't know about that." Aden said. "I mean, I'm not positive, but I think You-Know-Who might just be after Lily."

Lily looked like she wanted to kill Aden, but Sirius looked as though he was holding back a laugh.

"Well, I'll try and floo Ollivander. We _have_ to get you a wand."

Lily nodded, and then looked at Sirius strangely.

"What?" He asked.

"Are-are you wearing _lipstick_?" Lily laughed at him. Sirius's eyes widened and he glanced over at Aden, who was blushing furiously.

"N-no!" Sirius rubbed his lips with his hand.

"I better go." Aden said, getting up suddenly. "I'll…see you soon."

"Yeah." Sirius watched her go, looking like a puppy begging for a treat. When she left, Lily was standing in her place. Her arms were folded, and she was glaring at him.

"What?"

"_Aden Smith?_" She almost yelled. "How long has _this _been going on?"

Sirius backed away from her. He loved Lily, but she was scary as heck when she got angry. "Um…not too long. Maybe a month? A month and a half?"

"_A month and a half?"_

"I said maybe!"

Lily narrowed her eyes. "You know that she hates me! How could you-?"

"I fancied her for a _long time _Lily."

Lily stopped short, uncrossing her arms. "Really?"

"You never noticed?"

Lily thought back to her Hogwarts years, once again.

_Lily sat at the end of the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall, next to her best friend Paige._

"_Hey Evans!" Came a voice from the other side of the table. Lily groaned. _

_For the first two years at Hogwarts, James had left her alone. But now, in third year, James seemed to notice her. With her long red hair and bright green eyes so clear it was like looking into green grass, she had had plenty of guys after her before. But James was the persistent one, and now she couldn't get rid of him._

_James walked over to her, ruffling his black hair so it stood on end. Sirius was by his side, rolling his eyes. _

"_What do you want James?" Lily asked, ready to get rid of him._

"_Well, the first Hogsmeade visit is this weekend. So what do you say-you, me, Sweet Shop?" He winked at her, grinning. _

_Before Lily had a chance to reply, someone came up behind them and sat down at the table._

"_Hey boys." Aden said, smiling at James. James smiled uncertainly back and looked over at Lily._

"_So Evans, yes or-"_

"_So Lily," Aden started, cutting off James. He rolled his eyes and tipped his head back, looking at the cloudy grey ceiling. "Did you do the homework for Slughorn's class?"_

"_Yeah, I actually did." Lily said, smiling at her with death in her eyes._

"Well that's good."

Lily, remembering this, focused on Sirius.

_Aden tried to engage James in conversation, while Lily just turned back to Paige, hoping for them all to leave. But as Aden talked to James, Sirius's eyes traveled over her body, from her long hair to her short black boots. Her robes grazed the tips of her boots as she got up to leave._

"_Come on James, let's go to the library." She ordered, linking her arm through his. James looked back at Lily as she led him out, and Sirius chased after them like a lost puppy._

Lily looked up at Sirius. "Yeah, I guess I noticed a little."

"Yeah. I was so desperate. So when we met up in Diagon Alley a month ago, I took a chance and asked her out." Sirius's eyes clouded over a little, thinking of that day. "Don't be mad at me. I know what I'm doing."

Lily nodded at him, and finally smiled. "You sure you know what you're doing?" She asked, getting up to leave.

"Yeah." Sirius said, smiling.

"You still have lipstick on your face." Lily called, walking out of the room.

**AN: I'm sorry about some of the random lovey-dovey scenes, but it's kind of an up and down emotional rollercoaster for everyone right now…and there's also the flashbacks. It's just to show how much Lily misses James, and sort of their progression towards romance. Anyways, things will become a lot stable for EVERYONE soon ****  
>Please review! Xoxo<strong>


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: I just realized that I had Sirius introduce Lily to Aden in chapter 2, even though they knew each other. He's kind of an oblivious man; he did that because it was kind of awkward for him at the moment **

It was Tuesday. Sirius was lying in the living room, flipping through the news channels on his little television. Harry was crawling around, looking for things to play with. He found Sirius's wand on the floor, and started poking one of the pillows lying on the floor with it.

He poked it, and each time he did it got bigger, until-_BAM!_ It exploded. Sirius jumped up into an explosion of feathers.

"Harry, no!" Sirius said, laughing. He picked him up and swung him around, landing him on his hip. "Gimme my wand."

"No!" Harry said, trying to hold the wand higher.

"That's not helping you Harry." Sirius said, quickly grabbing the wand out of his hand. Harry stuck out his lip, pouting.

"Sirius!" Lily ran into the room, a letter in her hand. "Sirius-what happened in here?"

"Your son stole my wand and blew up a pillow." Sirius handed Harry to Lily. Harry buried his head in Lily's hair.

"Well bad timing on his part, because I just got a letter from Dumbledore." Lily held up the sheet of paper in her hand.

"What?" Sirius yelped, waving his wand at the feathers. "What does he want?"

"He needs to talk to me, and he's coming here today."

"When?"

Lily heard a slight popping sound coming from outside. "I guess now."

Sirius rushed to make the feathers disappear, and straightened up the room with a flick of his wand. Lily pulled Harry out of her hair and looked right into his eyes.

"Harry, we've got a visitor."

"Dada?" Harry exclaimed, looking around. Lily closed her eyes, trying as hard as she could not to cry.

"No Harry, not Dada." Lily said, and she walked over to the front door. Harry looked disappointed, his green eyes losing their glow.

"Let's do this." Sirius said, and pulled the door open.

"Hello Sirius," Dumbledore said, stepping inside.

"Professor." Sirius nodded back.

"Lily. Dear Lily." Dumbledore said to her. He hugged her tightly, comforting her. "You have gone through far too much in the past three days that no woman should have to go through in a lifetime." He sighed. "How are you doing?"

"Better than I expected." Lily said. "I mean, I haven't been attacked by Lord Voldemort or anything."

"Of course not!" Dumbledore exclaimed. "Lord Voldemort is furious, but unable to find you. Luckily, we didn't tell Peter about _this_ specific location." He waved around the house.

"Yeah, he didn't deserve to know, the cowardly, ignorant little-"

"Sirius!" Lily said. "Language!" She covered Harry's ear, and he pulled her hands away quickly.

"Oh, and here's little Harry!" Dumbledore exclaimed, walking over to him. He peered over his half-moon spectacles, examining the little boy. Harry squinted up at him, and then smiled widely.

"So, Professor." Sirius started. He walked over to the couch, and gestured for Dumbledore to follow. "What exactly are you doing here?"

"I came to talk to you both."

Lily sat down in the armchair to the right of the couch, and set happy on the floor. He rolled onto his stomach and put his hands on his chubby little cheeks, pushing them up towards his eyes. Dumbledore chuckled slightly at this, and turned to Lily.

"Lily, where are you planning on staying?" He asked her.

"Well, I was thinking here."

"No, no. We don't know who knows about this house, and how it could get to Lord Voldemort. We need to move you. Get you a whole new identity." Dumbledore sighed.

"A whole new identity?" Sirius looked confused.

"Just for when she goes out in public, a few appearance-changing spells should do the trick." He leaned forward. "And what are you going to do about money?"

"Well, I have money in Gringotts, but if I want to stay hidden…" Lily sighed. "I guess I'm going to have to get a job somewhere."

Sirius looked annoyed by this, but stayed silent.

"And last, but not least…" Dumbledore reached into a small hidden pocket of his robes, and pulled out a small parcel. "When I got to the wreckage, James's body had survived. I brought you some things I found."

Lily took the parcel and opened it slowly. Inside of it were James's long wand, and his round glasses. Lily choked up a little, looking at the worn marks and fingerprints on the wand.

"I think you need a wand?"

Lily nodded, still unable to sleep. She waved the wand at Harry's stuffed owl, and made it float in the air perfectly.

"Professor," Lily began. "This isn't my wand, but it worked perfectly for me. Why?"

"Well, I'm no Ollivander, but I think it's because of the strong bond of love that held you and James together. There is a piece of him in you, and the wand sense that."

Sirius looked torn, and he was fingering the glasses gingerly. Harry crawled over, using the couch to lift himself up, and he tried to grab the glasses.

"You want 'em Harry?" Sirius said, lifting him up. He put the glasses on Harry, and he looked exactly like James. Harry giggled as the glasses slid down his nose, too big for him. Lily couldn't help but smile at the resemblance.

Dumbledore grinned at little Harry, and turned back to Lily.

"I must go now, but remember. Move. Hide. Find a new secret-keeper. Stay concealed." Dumbledore turned to Sirius. "And yes, you can tell Aden."

Sirius widened his eyes, and didn't even get off the couch to lead Dumbledore out. When Lily returned from the door, she sat next to Sirius and Harry.

"So where do we go now?" She asked.

**AN: Dun dun duuuunn. TO BE CONTINUED. Ha. Anyways, I'll upload another chapter today. Swearsies. Xoxo **


	6. Chapter 6

"So where do we go now?" She asked.

Sirius set Harry on the ground, and he crawled over to his bear. "We have to find a house." He said calmly.

"But I love this house." Lily said, looking around. She did love this house, everything from the burnt newspapers in the fireplace to the pictures of the Marauders on the mantle. Lily walked up to them, and picked up one of James and Sirius together, laughing. "I don't want to leave!"

"Lily, we have to." Sirius said. "Come on, I know where we can find a good house, and it will just be the three of us. All together."

Lily thought this over. "It sounds nice but…I don't know."

"Lily."

Lily set down the picture and turned back to Sirius. "Fine, I'll do it." She said, knowing she wouldn't win this argument.

"Okay, well, do you want to start packing?"

"We have to move _today?_" Lily asked, groaning. She flopped onto the couch lazily.

"We might have to start trying." Sirius rolled his eyes at her ignorance.

Sirius waved his wand, conjuring several boxes out of thin air. He then waved the pictures into it, and some of the pillows on the couch. Lily watched him, and then sat up slowly.

"Sirius?"

"Yeah?" He said, turning towards her.

"You need to bring Aden."

"_What?"_

"You need to bring Aden with."

"Why?"

"Because you love her."

Everything was silent. Even Harry seemed to know that something big had been said, and watched the two adults with his thumb in his mouth.

"what-I don't-I've only-"

"Sirius." Lily gave him a knowing look. "You can't stand to see her come and go every day. You'd rather she was with us. And frankly, it'd be safer for her to just stay there."

"But you hate her!"

"But you don't."

Sirius rubbed his hair, thinking. "Well, when should I tell her?"

"As soon as possible."

Sirius shrugged and walked over to the fireplace. He grabbed a small jar off the mantle and picked up a pinch of glittery powder from it.

"Aden Smith, Apartment 32B!"

The fire glowed green, with Sirius's head inside. Harry yelped with shock and fell backwards, his arms flailing. Lily ran over to him and picked him up, and then they went to see what Sirius was saying. But no matter how close they got, the fire made it impossible to hear any bit of conversation on this side. Finally Sirius came out of the fireplace, shaking bits of ash out of his hair and clothes.

"What'd she say?" Lily asked, bouncing Harry on her hip.

"You'll see in a second." Sirius said.

The fireplace glowed green again, and Aden stepped out of it lightly. Harry's eyes widened, and then he gurgled and clapped with joy. Aden smiled at him and then turned to Sirius. "So what is this you say about…moving?"

"Well, Lily has to go into hiding and I was just wondering…if, well…" Sirius trailed off, looking down. Lily walked over and smacked him on the arm, snapping him back into reality. He jumped, and said, "If you, well….wanted to move in with us."

Aden widened her eyes, and looked frozen in place for a moment. Sirius looked like a sheepish four year old, looking down at his feet and shifting back and forth.

"Sirius, I-"

"You don't have to say yes." He exclaimed, cutting her off. "It's just, you would be safer."

"Sirius-"

"And then you wouldn't have to come and go so much-"

"Sirius!" Aden said, and smiled at him. "Sure, I'll do it."

Sirius smiled widely, and walked towards her. He embraced her in a tight hug, and Lily smiled at their combined shape.

"So…" She started, stepping forward as they broke apart. "What are we going to do about the house?"

"Oh, I can handle that." Aden said. "I know someone who's selling a house. I can get it for us."

Sirius brightened. "Okay!" He said.

"Wait, wait, we need to look at it first!" Lily looked worried. She didn't want anything moving too fast, and messing everything up.

"Fine. You and Aden go look at it, and I'll stay here with Harry and pack." Sirius turned to Harry. "You wanna stay here with Padfoot?"

"Pa' fo'?" Harry asked, looking confused.

"He can't say Padfoot?" Sirius looked hurt. "You kill me Lily. Well, I'll teach him this, and _then_ I'll pack."

Lily rolled her eyes at him. "Fine. Let me change, and then we can go."

Lily pointed James's wand at herself, murmuring a few spells. Her hair turned from bright red to a dull brown, and her eyes became a deep shade of blue.

"Wow." Aden said. "When you said change, I didn't mean you actually meant _change_ your appearance!"

"Security precaution." Lily replied, smirking. "Let's go."

Aden and Lily walked out of the house. Outside it was dark and cloudy. Lily shivered a little, crossing her arms. "Its cold!" she said, annoyed. Aden had a giant jacket on, and seemed to have no sympathy.

"Come on." Aden said, holding out her arm. Lily looked at her strangely.

"What?" She asked.

"Side-Along Apparation," Aden said, as though it was obvious. _"You _don't know where we're going, do you?"

Lily rolled her eyes and grabbed her arm.

"Bitch." She said to her, but the _pop_ of them apparating covered it up.

When they landed, Lily was laughing.

"What?" Aden snapped, glaring at her.

"N-nothing." Lily said, grabbing her sides. Aden turned quickly and walked away, Lily stumbling behind her. They walked up to a medium-sized, chocolate brown house, two stories high. It had a little picket fence around it, surrounding a large grassy yard with huge trees shedding their leaves. The grass was half covered by large orange and red leaves, and as Lily walked up the stone path to the porch she noticed little patches of flowers in the remaining areas of grass.

Aden knocked on the large front door, and a young woman opened up the door.

"Hey Melissa!" Aden said, smiling.

"Hello Aden!" She said, hugging her. "What are you doing here?"

"My…" Aden scrutinized Lily. "My-uh, sister and I are buying a house, and I heard yours was for sale! Can we come in?"

"Sure!" The woman gestured her inside, and Lily followed her in. The house was almost empty, with only a few pieces of furniture inside. But there were tons of windows, letting in the bit of light that was outside. The walls were beige, and it had wood floors like Sirius's.

"Who is she?" Lily whispered to Aden.

"Old friend from grade school." Aden whispered back. They walked behind Melissa into the kitchen.

"Okay, so you guys can look around and tell me what you like!" Melissa said. "I have to go finish packing the living room, so yell if you need something."

Melissa walked out of the room, and Aden turned to Lily. "You want to look around?"

Lily nodded, and they walked into a large, open space. "This could be-"

"A playroom." Aden finished for Lily, and Lily looked taken aback.

"How did you…?"

"Just a guess." Aden said, and they walked out of the room and up the stairs. They walked up and into a large bedroom. Lily thought to herself: _I could do so much with this room…it would be Sirius and Adens', it's the perfect size. There's a perfect corner for a desk, and they could put the bed underneath that large window…_

"You know what I think?" Aden said, cutting off her train of thought. "Over there, that corner?" She pointed where Lily had just been thinking about. "That's the perfect place for like, a desk or something. I know Sirius like to write sometimes…"

"That's exactly what I was thinking!" Lily said. She was taken aback by their similar sense of style. _Maybe we have something in common? _She thought, but her brain rejected the idea of her and her longtime competitor having anything in common.

After a full tour of the house, they were back in the kitchen with Melissa.

"So, what do you think?" She asked, jumping up and down slightly. She seemed nervous, waiting for their approval.

"I love it." Lily said. "It's perfect."

"I have to say I agree." Aden smiled at Lily.

"So, do we have a deal?"

Aden looked at Lily. "Does Sirius care if we say yes?"

"I doubt it." Lily said.

"Okay, Melissa, we'll take it."

After lots of talking, signing, and discussing, they finally got the house. In two weeks, it would be theirs.

Aden and Lily apparated to Sirius's separately this time, but when they landed, something had changed about them. They didn't hate each other _quite _as much. Given, to Aden Lily was still the girl who was better than her at everything, and to Lily Aden was a snobby know-it-all, but they had at least one thing in common. And that was enough for both of them.

They walked inside, Lily changing her hair back and Aden ripping off her coat.

"Hey guys!" Sirius said, bouncing in. Harry was on his shoulders, laughing and holding onto his hair. "Look what Harry can do!"

Lily groaned and rolled her eyes at him. She knew what was coming.

Sirius looked up at Harry. "Okay, Harry, what's my name?"

"Padfo'!" he shrieked, giggling.

"And how cool am I?"

Harry spread his arms. "Dis much!"

Sirius laughed and tickled Harry, who laughed some more. "So, did you guys get the house?"

"Yes!" Lily said excitedly. "We move in in two weeks!"

Everyone cheered, and got ready to pack some more. It was time for a new beginning.

**AN: Double Chapter day! Yay! I will probably have one up tomorrow. It will be like, 2 and a half weeks later **** Xoxo my lovelies!**


	7. Chapter 7

****Three weeks later****

Lily walked up into her new room, lying down on the bed and thinking about the past few weeks. So much had happened.

They had packed the house within a day, which they had only relied on magic for. Then they had had to wait, for what felt like the longest time, just for the house to open for them to move into. Aden had nearly attacked Lily, going crazy from eating random items of food off paper plates and sleeping on air mattresses. Sirius suggested they all slept on opposite sides of the house after that.

Then they had gotten into the house a week early, because Melissa figured they wanted it as soon as possible. Lily thought that Sirius had gone to see her and begged for the house so Aden and Lily wouldn't kill each other, but she wasn't complaining. They had started unpacking right away, picking rooms for everyone, only finding they had a spare room. Lily decided this would be the storage room for now, so now it was filled with tons of boxes, filled and unfilled.

Now about half the rooms were furnished, mainly the bedrooms. They used almost all the muggle money they had saved up to buy new furniture, so now someone getting a job was a _bit_ of a need. The only problem was _who_ would get a job, and who would stay home with Harry.

Lily pressed her hand to her forehead, adding pressure. She had the worst headache today, and her stomach had been feeling a bit upset for the past week. She got up and looked at herself in the mirror over the dresser. She looked terrible. Her skin was pasty, and she looked _tired_. Lily figured it was just the stress of moving and hoped she wasn't getting sick. She heard rustling at the door, and it opened a crack, letting a baby Harry crawl his way in.

"Harry, what are you doing up here?" Lily smiled at him, but in her head thought: _There should be a gate…_She walked over to the door and looked at the stairs. "Of course. There's no gate."

Harry smiled up at her, looking mischievous. Lily picked him up, ready to kill Sirius. If Harry had fallen down those stairs…Lily shook her head and walked out with Harry.

"Padfoot's in big trouble." She said.

"Padfo'!" Harry grinned, clapping his hands.

Lily shook her head, looking around for Sirius. This house was so big, half the time nobody could find each other. After almost five minutes of looking in each room of the house, she finally found him in the kitchen.

"Did you put the gate up on the stairs?" She asked him, glaring. Sirius had his mouth full of sandwich, his eyes widened and he shook his head. "_Sirius!"_ Lily smacked him on the arm, and he quickly swallowed.

"It's not my fault! I…I was hungry! I was going to do it after I ate…" Sirius shrank back like a cowardly puppy.

"Ughhh," Lily said, grabbing her stomach. "Look, I'm _really_ not in the mood to kill you, so I'll make it quick: _Put the gate up._" She handed him Harry, and walked upstairs again, feeling worse than before.

"Hey Lil-wow." Aden said. She had several samples of paint in her hand, and her hair was bunched into a messy bun. "You look _horrible."_

"Thanks, I hadn't noticed." Lily snapped. Aden rolled her eyes, and continued.

"Anyways, I was just wondering which color we should paint Harry's room. I was thinking green, because of his eyes, or maybe blue. He seems to like blue." Aden held out tons of different colors, and Lily just wanted to lie down.

"Aden, I don't want to do this right now." Lily tipped her head back and closed her eyes, a huge wave of nausea hitting her. "I'll-I'll be right back." She said in a rush, and ran into the bathroom.

Aden wrinkled her nose, hearing the unmistakable sounds of retching, then vomiting.

"Lily?" Aden walked into her room. Lily was lying on the bed facedown.

"What?" Was the muffled call back.

"I think you should, erm, go to the doctor."

Later that day, Lily put on her new coat. She had the same brown hair and blue eyes as Aden, because she was pretending to be her today.

"Okay, just tell them what's wrong, and they'll treat you." Sirius said, as if she didn't know.

"I will." Lily said. She had been feeling a bit better, but not by much.

"And if something happens, anything weird, _get out._"

"I _know, _Sirius." Lily hugged him. "I'll be fine. Trust me." She smiled and walked out, and her faint _pop_ from apparating told them she was gone.

"Padfo'!" Harry held out his arms, signaling he wanted to be picked up. Sirius put him on his shoulders, and started bouncing up and down. Harry giggled delightedly, and Aden couldn't help but smile at this.

They walked into the playroom, which Harry had already taken over as his little fortress. He had all of his dolls in one corner, and a giant muggle train set Sirius had enchanted to make the little people come to life and move around. Harry liked watching them all play, it was like a 'real life television' as Aden called it.

"Harry! Come here!" Aden said, patting her lap. Harry crawled over and sat down in her lap. He placed his new book, _The Tales of Beetle the Bard,_ in Aden's hands.

"Pwease?" He said with big puppy dog eyes. Aden melted, and she found the perfect story.

"Babbity Rabbity and her Cackling stump." Aden began.

Harry clapped his hands excitedly, and he studied every word on the page. Sirius sat in the rocking chair in the corner of the room, watching Aden read to Harry.

_Maybe one day that will be her with our child. _He thought.

Our _child? I'm moving a bit fast, aren't I?_

But as he looked at her, the way she pointed out every picture, every word to Harry, his longing for her grew stronger.

_Maybe I'll make her my wife. We do live together, after all, it would be right to do so._

Aden continued to read to Harry, and it grew darker outside. The sky turned pink, looking like freshly swirled cotton candy.

"Babbity hopped out of the grounds and far away, and ever after a golden statue of the washerwoman stood upon the tree stump, and no witch or wizard was ever persecuted in the kingdom again." Aden closed the book, and Harry clapped.

"Yay!" He said, laughing. Aden kissed him on his chubby cheek, and sent him off to play with his toys.

"Good job." Sirius said, coming up behind her and wrapping his hands around her waist.

"I'm good with children." Aden said, kissing him on the cheek. They stood there together, watching Harry, when the front door slammed open.

Lily ran in, hair just turning red, tears running down her face.

"Lily?" Sirius said, breaking away from Aden. "What-what happened?"

Lily sank onto the rocking chair, rubbing her hands over her face.

"Lily. Tell us." Aden looked worried, her blue eyes flaring.

Lily looked up at them with watery eyes. She took a deep breath, preparing herself to drop a bomb on them.

"I'm…pregnant."

**AN: BOMB DROPPED! I know this is a rumor going around…I will just enhance that rumor :X  
>And if anyone was wondering about my unrealistic house-buying., I'm 14. I have no clue how that works.<br>Okay, please review, I'm trying to update as much as possible. Xoxo **


	8. Chapter 8

"I'm…pregnant."

Sirius gasped audibly, his eyes widening to look like saucers.

_It can't be. There must be some other explanation…_He thought, looking at Lily. She was holding her stomach and breathing heavily, looking as though she was about to give birth. Harry sat in the corner of the room quietly, petting the owl.

"Lily…are you sure?" he said hesitantly, stepping forward. "There could be a mistake…"

"There's no mistake!" Lily snapped.

"Are you sure?"

"They gave me _seven tests, _Sirius. I didn't believe them."

Sirius put his head in his hands. She was having a baby. Without James. The room was silent, and tension that hadn't been felt for weeks was in the air.

"So…" Aden began. "Whose is it?"

"Aden!" Sirius barked, whipping towards her. Lily gave her a look that could kill, and then ran out of the room. Tears ran down her face, and you could hear her loud footsteps going up the stairs and the audible slam of her door.

"Uh-oh." Harry said, looking up at where his mom had just ran to. "Mama sad!"

"It's okay Harry, she'll be fine." Sirius smiled the best he could at him. The circumstances didn't help though. "Aden! Why would you say something like that?"

"It was a real question!" Aden looked at Sirius in disbelief. "What, was I supposed to assume it was her _dead_ husband's?"

"Yes!"

"How could I?"

"I don't know, she could be a few months along and not showing yet!"

"Well that would have been good to know."

"Yeah, but you made her cry and run away!"

Sirius and Aden glared at each other from across the room, looking furious. Harry looked upset. He hated it when the adults got mad at each other.

"No!" He shouted, crawling in between them. "No sad!"

He pressed his lips together, and attempted to cross his arms. Aden's lip quivered, and Sirius looked like he was trying a bit too hard to hold back a laugh. Harry looked between both of them, waiting for them to make up.

"Padfo'!"

Sirius smiled, and walked over to pick up Harry. "What, you're the peacemaker now that your mama's a hormonal mess?" He asked jokingly.

Aden stayed in place, not wanting to apologize. She _hated_ admitting she was wrong. It felt like rubbish to her if she didn't mean it. But then she looked over at Sirius and Harry, both giving her puppy dog eyes, and cracked.

"Alright! Alright, alright. I'm sorry!" She said, running her fingers through her hair nervously, looking uncomfortable. "I shouldn't have said it! It was wrong!"

"Thank you. Now come on, let's hug before Harry kills me."

Sirius and Aden hugged, squishing Harry between them. All was well again.

But upstairs it was a different story.

Lily ran into her room, tears streaking down her face. She held her stomach, a mix of emotions running through her. Sadness. Love. Fear. Anxiety. Heartache.

None could be fixed.

She slumped down at the edge of the bed, crying. She thought about James. Another baby. Without his or her father. James would never meet it. She thought of James, and the day Harry was born:

_Lily sat straight up in bed, breathing heavily. "James!" _

"_Whaa?" He got up, his hair standing straight up. "What happened?"_

"_Well, I either just peed my pants or we're having a baby!"_

_James jumped out of bed, freaking out. He ran into the bathroom, wetting down his hair and pulling some jeans on, and ran to Lily. _

"_Alright honey, its okay. We can do this. You'll be fine, come on, and just get out of bed now…"_

"_JAMES!"_

"_What?" _

"_I'm going to kill you if you don't stop that!" _

_James gulped and ran out of the room, grabbing his wand from the kitchen downstairs. Lily was walking down slowly, holding her stomach and breathing heavily. James ran over to her, and grabbed her stomach. His face lit up, as though the whole situation was finally coming to him. _

"_Hun, we're having a baby!" He shouted, doing a little dance around the room. Lily rolled her eyes and threw one of the spare pacifiers on the table at his head._

"_Ow!" He rubbed the spot where it hit._

"Now_ can we go?" Lily asked impatiently. James walked out of the door silently, but still smiling._

_When they arrived at St. Mungo's, Lily was a wreck. _

"_James, if you don't get me in there right now, I'm going to kill you!" She growled, her eyes fiery. James ran in, looking for a nurse. He finally found one, and now Lily was becoming weepy._

"_James, forgive me for yelling! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to throw something at you!" She clung onto him. James shook his head and followed the nurse into their room._

"_Anything to drink?" She asked sweetly. James shook his head politely, but Lily asked for a Crushed Dragon Scale Smoothie, which was basically the wizard equivalent of a muggle slushie. _

_The nurse ran out, tightening her messy blond bun._

"_JAMES!"_

"_What?" He groaned._ _Another mood swing? Was his terrified thought._

"_This hurts! The baby's killing me!" _

"_It's not killing you!"_

"_How do you know? You've never had a monster child inside of you ripping your spine apart!"_

_James rubbed his hair back and forth, nervous she would kill him. The nurse walked back in, smiling pleasantly. _

"_Here you go." She handed Lily her drink. "You will be numbed shortly."_

_Lily looked slightly calmer as she drank her smoothie. James relaxed, stretching out on the couch by the window. _

"_James, you need to tuck in your shirt." She said, sipping the drink._

_He looked down. "Why?" _

"_It looks nicer."_

"_Lils, I love you, but you're acting like my mother."_

_There was a moment of silence, and then…Wham! Lily threw her smoothie at James._

"_Ow!" He yelled, standing up. Red glops of smoothie ran down his shirt, and stained his hair. "What was that for?"_

"_I am _not _your mother."_

_Finally, after hours of labor and pain (for James) Lily gave birth to a healthy, green eyed, black haired boy._

"_He's beautiful." Lily said, smiling again._

"_What should we name him?" James asked, fingering his hair._

"_He looks like a Harry." Lily said."With your name as his middle name!"_

"_Harry James…I like it!" James lifted Harry up. "Harry James Potter, welcome to the wizarding world!_

Lily opened her eyes. Her tears had stopped, and her face was dry. She looked at the clock. Only five minutes had passed.

She held her stomach. Could she raise this baby? Without it's father?

She knew she had to. It was her baby. It was one of the last physical ties to James, other than Harry.

She made her decision right there. To be the best mother ever to Harry and this baby. To make up for the absence of their father in their lives. She would try as hard as she could.

For James.

**AN: YAY! Another chapter! Anyways, on my profile there should be a poll up to decide on the baby's gender. But can you guys tell me how to do it, if it isn't there?  
>Again, please read and review. I love you all! Thanks for all the positive feedback; it makes me so happy when I get it Xoxo.<strong>


	9. Chapter 9

A few days later, the house was back to normal.

Almost.

Lily was still ready to kill Aden at any point, and now the pregnancy hormones made it worse. Sirius was forcing Aden to stay out of Lily's way, making sure there was less fighting.

One day, Sirius pulled Lily aside.

"Lily," He began. "I-I need you to cover for me tonight."

"Cover for you? Why?" She asked. She was sitting on the rug in the playroom, going through paint samples while Harry played in the corner.

"Because I…I'm going to pick out a ring."

"A _what?"_ Lily almost shouted, dropping the paint samples. "Are you going-are you going to…?"

"Yes." Sirius fidgeted with his collar a little, looking uncomfortable. "Now be quiet! Aden might hear you!"

Lily broke into a smile, jumped up, and hugged Sirius. She was happy for him. He loved Aden; anyone who was around could see it. And Lily was positive Aden loved him back.

"Okay, fine. I'll cover for you, but I have to go get some paint for the rooms."

"Have fun with that!" He called after her as she walked out the door. "Hey Harry." He looked over at the little boy. Harry looked up from the trains.

"Hi Padfo'!" he called.

"How would you like to be my best man?"

Harry looked up at him with wide eyes, having no clue what he meant.

"Oh, never mind. I'll just ask your mommy." Sirius rolled his eyes. "Come here Harry."

Harry took a hesitant step forward, and then another. He giggled and clapped his hands happily. The whole family had been trying to get him to walk on his own, because he had just been taking a few steps lately.

"Come on Harry, you can do it."

Harry took another step, and another, until he was finally at Sirius. "Yay!" he cried, sitting in Sirius's lap.

"What's yay?" Aden asked, walking into the room. She was in the process of painting the bathroom Ravenclaw blue today. Her hair was in a large, fluffy bun, and she had a streak of blue across her forehead and one in her hair.

"Harry can walk."

"I've noticed."

Harry looked over at Aden, wrinkling his nose. "Aden messy."

Aden rolled her eyes, walking into the kitchen, muttering.

"Where's Lily?" She asked, walking into the room again. This time, with a sandwich.

"Where'd you get the sandwich?" Sirius asked, ignoring the question.

"Made it with _magic_."

"Make me one?"

"No!" Aden walked towards the bathroom. "You've got a perfectly good wand, make it yourself."

Sirius rolled his eyes and walked towards the kitchen, Harry on his shoulders again.

Later that day, Lily was nervous.

_What if I screw up? _She kept thinking, sitting in the kitchen and wringing her hands.

She knew this was stupid though. How could she screw up just _not telling_ Aden something?

She looked at the clock. It read 7:15. Sirius had promised to be home at 7:30, at the latest.

Lily needed something to distract her.

Then Harry crawled in.

"Harry," Lily said. "Do you even _try_ walking?"

"No!" Harry said, going under the chair. Lily groaned and got off to pull him out.

"Come on, I think it's time for bed."

They walked up into Harry's room, which was half done. In one corner was his crib, which was lined with blue sheets. His bear was inside, waiting for his master to come home. In the corner opposite was a bookcase and a small couch, prefect for reading time. The only other thing was a changing table, and the rest of the room was bare.

"We need to paint this room, don't we?"

"Yea!" Harry said, not understanding, just agreeing.

Lily grabbed a little yellow pair of pajamas, and pulled them on Harry. He looked tired, yet he was still full of energy.

_Wish I could be like that. _Lily thought.

She put him in bed, and he bounced up and down for a while.

"No sleep! No sleep!"

"Yes, sleep." Lily said, summoning his bottle from the fridge. She handed it to him, and he immediately sat down, sucking.

After minutes of him lying there, and Lily singing lullabies, he finally fell asleep. Lily put out the lights with a flick of her wand, walking out of the room.

She looked back in at sleeping Harry, so peaceful and quiet.

_He's so adorable when he's sleeping…_She thought tiredly. But then…

_Shit. Where's the new baby going to sleep! _

Lily started panicking. She didn't want her kids to share a room! She paced down the hallway, thinking, and then-

_Of course!_

She opened the door next to her room, the one that led into the "Storage room". It was cold inside, and all the boxes were gone.

"This is perfect." She actually said aloud. She could see where to put everything…once they bought it. They were all looking for jobs, but now the situation was harder. Aden didn't want to work. Lily and Sirius did. Sirius thought that Lily should take it easy. Lily didn't care.

Lily frowned, remembering Sirius saying she should take it easy. She wasn't dying. She was _pregnant._

Downstairs, she heard the front door open. _Sirius!_

Lily ran down, taking two o steps at a time.

"Did you get it?" She said, out of breath.

"Whoa, calm down!" He laughed. "Yes, I got it."

"Where are you going to propose?"

"Erm…well, I was just thinking in the backyard." He pointed.

Lily loved the backyard. It was magical. Once you got off the porch, there was a canopy of trees, blocking a small stream. Lily had put tons of lights all over them from her wand, so the trees glimmered in the moonlight. The stream went from one edge of the backyard and down into the small pool they had, filling both sides of the yard. You could swim right down into the pool. Surrounding the small stream were large patches of grass. Lily was planning on buying a playhouse for Harry, and Sirius was planning on getting a barbeque. They wanted to fill up the backyard, making it a playground of sorts, because the kids could rarely leave the house. They had cast the fideleous charm again, this time making Dumbledore the secret keeper.

"The backyard is perfect."

"Hey guys!" Aden said, walking into the room. She looked like she had just taken a shower, her long hair straight and wet, falling to her hips. She quickly made it dry with a flick of her wand, and it slowly went back to its natural waves.

"Hey Aden." Sirius said, his face turning red. "Come here." He grabbed her hand and they walked into the backyard.

Lily pretended she wasn't watching, even though she was. They talked for a few minutes, and Lily could see Sirius fingering the ring case behind his back. The lights from the trees illuminated them, and Lily could see the exact facial expressions. Sirius looked worried, but Aden had no clue what he was about to do.

Sirius got down on one knee. Lily squealed, clapping her hand over her mouth. Aden's eyes widened, and she started smiling. Sirius held out the ring box. Aden covered her eyes. Lily saw her mouth form the word 'yes'. Sirius grinned, putting the ring on her hand. Aden started crying. Sirius hugged her. They stood there like that for a while.

Lily, not wanting to intrude much longer, raced upstairs. She wondered what their future would be like. Where would the wedding be? They couldn't have an official ceremony, it'd be too risky. Would they have kids? Where would they sleep?

So many questions.

But as Lily lay down to sleep, all the questions washed away into darkness.

And then she was dreaming.

Dreaming of a life, where James was still alive. They were rejoicing.

Sirius was marrying Aden. James stood at the altar, his best man. Lily and Harry sat in the crowd, right in the front.

On Harry's eleventh birthday, he received his Hogwarts letter. James threw a party. Sirius came, and so did Aden. They all went to Diagon Alley to pick up his stuff. On September 1st, they sent him off, waving and smiling. Lily cried into James when he was gone, but knew he was coming back.

She watched her son grow up, all with James. They did everything together.

Her eyes fluttered open. It was early morning, the sun was just rising.

Lily was saddened by this dream. It wasn't reality.

Reality was a cruel thing.

**AN: Okay, kind of stupid, pointless chapter. The next one will be too. But then it'll get kind of cool. Stay tuned! Anyways, I'll try and upload another chapter today. Stupid muggle school getting in my way. Xoxo.**


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: Okay, so this is like, a nine-month journal entry. It's my way of not writing a million chapters for nine months…but still explaining what happened? If you don't like it, then…sorry D: OCTOBER 15**

_November 30, 1981_

_So Sirius and Aden finally got married today. We called a priest and had him come to us, not wanting to make a big scene in public. I still had to change my hair color, and this time Harry's too. He screamed and kicked. It was worse than forcing him into the pumpkin costume. Professor Dumbledore also came, and we announced my pregnancy to him. He was delighted! He also informed me and Sirius of open job positions around town that he had "Casually heard of". I didn't believe him, but I'm going to go look at one tomorrow._

_December 1, 1981_

_So I looked at the job today. It's at a tiny bookstore, about a mile away. It was just opened. I talked to the owner, Sarah, today and her little daughter, Paige. They were both so sweet! I accepted the job, knowing I would have to take time off sooner or later because of the baby. I got it to be a part time job, so I could still be home with Harry. Aden is taking the other shift._

_December 10, 1981_

_The job is going great. I still have to change my hair and eye color every day, which can be annoying. It's become a part of my morning routine. I wear my hair brown and my eyes a deep shade of blue, so I could pass as Aden's sister. Aden calls me "Mini me" even though I am not in the slightest bit younger or shorter than her. _

_We're planning on getting a Christmas tree soon. Harry's excited; he keeps walking around shouting "Chismas! Chismas!" _

_December 12, 1981_

_Me and Aden went out and bought Christmas decorations today. I got some bright lights, which we forced Sirius to hang outside. It took him two hours and lots of swearing on his part. If Harry hadn't been asleep his vocabulary would have expanded quite a lot. When harry woke up, he helped me put up the mini Santa candles in the kitchen. He asked who the red gumdrop man was. I don't think he quite understands Christmas yet._

_December 19, 1981_

_We finally got our Christmas tree. About time, seeing as Christmas is only six days away. I curse the day I decided to live with these procrastinators. Harry nearly killed me when I was changing his hair color today, but I ended up making him a redhead like me. Aden and Sirius changed their appearances a little. We both begged Sirius to get a haircut. He said, "Maybe for Christmas." When we were walking out, Aden whispered to me, "Maybe tonight, when I use magic when he's asleep."_

_We ended up getting a huge tree for the living room. Harry was so excited to put all of the decorations on. We used magic for most of it, and I tried to help Harry guide the star up to the top with my wand. He ended up exploding the star, showering us with plastic. I had to repair the star, and this time Sirius lifted him up to put it on._

_December 24, 1981_

_We had Christmas dinner tonight. It was supposed to be small, but Aden ended up making dinner for an army. We have enough leftovers for another month. Harry won't sleep, every ten minutes he climbs out of his bed and runs out, asking if Santa came yet. I told him Santa doesn't come until you sleep for an hour. Harry didn't believe me._

_December 25, 1981_

_Merry Christmas! Today has been so exciting. Harry got about a million new things for Christmas. I have no clue where I'm going to put it all. I blame Sirius. He decided to be funny, and get me a bludger. When I opened the present, it jumped out and nearly killed me._

_January 8, 1982_

_We took down the tree today. Harry tried to make it stay, saying it didn't have any other home. I was nearly swayed, but looked at the dead branches and said no. _

_January 20, 1982_

_I haven't written in my journal for a long time. We've been working on the house a bit more, putting up pictures and things. I got a ton of old ones from old friends at school…well, Aden got them. She told them Sirius was making a tribute to me and James, and he needed pictures. She said he had no clue where I'd gone, but hoped I was okay. I thought this was a horrible lie, but Sirius liked it. Probably because it made him look really good._

_Harry became friends with Sarah's daughter today, I had to bring him to work, Aden was painting his room. Her daughter is only a year older than him, and it turns out there's a little playroom in the back for them._

_We also began furnishing the baby's room. Just standard furniture: A crib, a dresser, a changing table. We didn't know what else to put in. I'm going to find out the gender of the baby soon. I have another appointment at St. Mungo's in about three weeks. I'm excited!_

_February 14, 1982_

_It's Valentine's Day. I have the feeling Sirius and Aden are going all out for this one, they keep giving each other sappy looks and amazing presents. I decided to get out of their way and make heart-shaped cookies with Harry. He frosted one, and used up half the container. Then he tried to eat it. It didn't fit in his mouth. _

_February 22, 1982_

_I went to the doctor at St. Mungo's today. I'm actually showing quite a bit, which I haven't noticed. My jeans are really tight though. I had to pick some up after._

_I was so nervous going into St. Mungo's; it was more packed than usual. I was afraid of losing my cover, because anyone could have been there. But that didn't happen, and I finally found out the gender of the baby. I'm not going to tell anyone though, for the sake of torturing them. Anyways, the baby is a-_

_Crap, Harry's crying. I'll continue this entry when I get him._

_March 18, 1982_

_So, I never finished the last entry. Harry had slipped down a stair, because Sirius STILL hadn't put up the baby gate. I swear, it's just like Hogwarts again, where I was the one stuck doing his work. Speaking of Sirius, today he told me I looked as though I had swallowed a bowling ball. He ducked away before I could hit him. Harry, sitting in his high chair, found this all very amusing. _

_There are more important things to do though. James's birthday is in nine days, and Sirius wants to celebrate. I don't know what I want. I love James. I miss him. Celebrating his birthday is a good thing to do, to remind us all of how he died protecting us. Aden doesn't want it, she says it's upsetting._

_Speaking of Aden, she's also pregnant. It's kind of crazy, but I've been expecting it since Valentine's Day. It was bound to happen, the way they were acting._

_March 28, 1982_

_We celebrated James's birthday yesterday. It was sweet. We didn't have a celebration; we just baked a special dinner, talked about him, and showed Harry some pictures. I think Harry understood what was going on. He thought it was him at first, which is reasonable. He looks just like James._

_April 4, 1982_

_Gosh, now I know what it was like to live with me all hormonal and crazy. Eden's scary before, but now she's wild. Today she threw a whole bowl of cereal at me. Milk and all. Just because I told her she looked nice! She said something about me making fun of her. I didn't really catch it; I was busy dodging flying milk. _

_April 25, 1982_

_It's getting harder to write these journals often. It's getting pretty busy around here, what with finishing up the baby's room alone. I don't allow anyone in there, and put a special charm on the door so it will only open to me. Nobody will know what the gender of the baby is. _

_Aden's already showing a bit. It's weird; she's only about two months along. I'm huge though, so I have to suffer constant whale jokes from Sirius. I pushed him into the pool and gave him a whale's tail for that. _

_May 14, 1982_

_I'm almost at the end of my pregnancy. Harry is really excited, bouncing around the house talking about the baby. It's his favorite thing to do, along with feeling my stomach for the baby's kick. We've all learned the lyrics to his favorite song, "New Baby." It's basically the title over and over and over again. Sirius put a spell on Aden to make sure she wouldn't hear it. She would flip._

_Gah. The baby is kicking really hard. It better come out soon, I feel like I'm going to pop. I'll write again soon. _

**AN: New chapter! It's long, but there are some important details in it. Next chapter: The Baby Xoxo.**


	11. Chapter 11

Lily sat in the hospital room at St. Mungo's, her hair tied back, her face pale. She was in labor.

"Get. This thing. OUT of me!" She yelled at Sirius. He took a step back, distancing himself.

"Lily, calm down. You'll be fine."

"Not if it kills me!"

"You've been in labor before, why would this be different?"

Lily glared at him, not wanting to be corrected. "Shut up."

Sirius backed away, sitting on the couch. "You technically aren't giving birth yet, you have another few hours."

"Oh, thanks for reminding me."

"Well, I was just saying-"

"It's not going to help Sirius." Aden said as she walked into the room. She carried two small drinks in her hand, and handed one to Sirius.

"Where's mine?" Lily asked, annoyed.

"You can't have one." Aden said.

"Why not?"

"Because you're in labor."

Lily stuck her tongue out at her. Then she sat up, realizing Harry was missing.

"Hey! Where's Harry?"

"He's in the waiting room, playing."

"Well go out there with him!"

"I'll do it!" Sirius bounced off the couch, eager to go. He didn't want to be in Lily's way when she got even angrier.

Aden sat awkwardly on the couch, rubbing her stomach. She looked as though she was waiting to blurt something out, but couldn't.

"Aden, what's wrong?" Lily asked, her bad mood vanishing from her.

Aden shifted on the couch, looking even more uncomfortable. "Well…I-I don't want to-"

"ADEN. What's wrong?" Lily said sharply.

Aden looked towards the door, and back at Lily. She got up and closed it, then sat at the edge of the bed. She looked like a little four year old, just on the edge of spitting out a secret.

"Can I tell you something? Something important?"

"Yeah, sure." Lily heaved a little, the pain growing.

"Well, I-I…" Aden flitted her eyes around the room, them growing to the color of what reminded Lily of the ocean at night. "I-I'm having twins."

Lily actually squealed a little at this, looking excited. "Why didn't you tell me sooner? Oh my gosh, this is amazing!" Lily gushed over this for a moment, and then saw Aden's expression. "What-what's so wrong about it?"

"Lily, how am I going to tell Sirius? He never planned on settling down and starting a family like this! And now, there's going to be _so many kids._ And we don't even have rooms!"

"Aden, calm yourself." Lily rolled her eyes, wincing as the pain grew even more. "First off, Sirius loves you, and pretty much any offspring that comes with you. Second, we have magic. I don't think the amount of rooms in the house matters."

Aden smiled at Lily, pushing stray hairs off her face. "I guess." She said meekly, looking up at Lily with puppy god eyes. "I probably was being stupid, wasn't I?"

"You always are."

"Thanks."

It was silent, and then Lily let out a groan of pain. "Hey, why don't you go get the nurse?" She asked, leaning her head back. "It's coming." 

Sirius waited outside the hospital room, listening to Aden coach Lily along. He looked disgusted by this, and wondered how he would do it when Aden gave birth.

"Padfo! Padfo!" Harry padded down the hall, his bright blond hair falling into his eyes. Sirius leaned down to pick him up, wondering why they had chosen to go blond, of all colors.

"Yes, Chase?" He asked, using Harry's "code name". It was suitable enough to pass in the muggle `world, although Sirius thought he didn't look like a Chase at all.

"Where baby?"

"The baby's being born." Sirius said, pointing towards the hospital room. Lily chose that moment to let out a shriek, and Harry wrinkled his nose.

"Ew."

"Ew indeed." Sirius said, patting him on the head. "Make a note: Never get married." 

Lily sat in the hospital room, wiping sweat off her face. After _hours_ of labor, she finally had the baby.

The nurse walked in, pushing perfect blond ringlets off her face. Aden was outside with Sirius and Harry-Chase-and they were waiting for Lily to allow them in.

"Would you like me to bring in the baby?" She asked, handing Lily a calming draught. Lily drank all of it in one gulp, and then pushed it back at the nurse.

"Yes, please." Lily said calmly. She leaned back against the pillow, all remaining pain and energy being drained out of her. The nurse nodded and walked out of the room, ushering the rest of the crew in.

Sirius came in first, carrying Harry. Harry was bouncing up and down in his arms, looking around for the baby.

"Where baby?" He said, looking everywhere, as though Lily had it hiding in a drawer.

"It'll be here soon." Lily smiled warmly at him, holding out her arms. He leapt into them, sitting on her lap comfortably.

Sirius sat on the couch again, the flowery pillows sinking beneath him. "Lily, not to be sudden or anything, but have you considered contacting Moony?"

Lily gasped, slapping a hand on her forehead. "Shi-I mean, poop." She looked at Harry, who was happily sucking his thumb. "I never thought of that! Poor Moony, I haven't even thought of him, what with everything going on…" She groaned, and hid her head in her hands.

"It's okay; I sent him an owl earlier." Sirius said, smiling. Lily peeked one eye out of her hands, looking happier.

"Okay, I'm sorry to inter-just kidding, I'm not sorry. Where's this mysterious baby now?" Aden said impatiently.

Lily rolled her eyes. "The nurse is-"

"Here we go." The nurse's buttery soft voice floated into the room. A little bundle stirred in her arms, and Harry jumped off Lily's lap, throwing a brown piece of hair into her eyes. The nurse placed the baby into Lily's arms, and then backed away slowly. She watched them from the doorway, and the rest of the clan gathered around. Sirius placed Harry on his shoulders so he could get a better view, and Lily held out the bundle.

Inside was a pink faced, button nosed baby…

Girl.

Aden gasped, her eyes filling with tears. The baby had a tuft of Lily's bright red hair, and her cheeks were plump and rosy. Harry made no sound, but he was smiling brightly.

The baby opened her eyes suddenly, looking around at all of them. They were a shockingly bright green, identical to Harry's and Lily's. Lily could just imagine James sitting here, complaining that none of the kids had his eyes.

The room was quiet, and peaceful.

A new life had begun.


	12. Chapter 12

Lily walked into the room Sirius was in, with the baby in her arms. She had decided to name her Jaime, the female version of James. They had been in the hospital for another week, and they had just gotten home about a week ago. Right now, she was sleeping peacefully, but when she was awake she was a real handful. Sirius said she had Lily's attitude along with her looks. All of a sudden, a huge crash of thunder rang through the house, and they heard the sound of rain outside. It had been raining on and off for weeks now, just pouring. Sirius was sitting at the kitchen table, a large barn owl by his side and a quill in his hand. He was writing diligently, ignoring the rain.

"Sirius, who are you writing?" Lily asked, pushing her hair, now red again, behind her ear.

"Moony…" He muttered, the quill between his teeth. He looked worried. "But, he hasn't written me back in the past week. I'm nervous."

"Why?"

"He sounded kind of…I don't know. Depressed when I last talked to him."

"Depressed?" Lily looked nervous now, and shifted Jaime into her other arm. "Depressed…how?"

"Depressed as in he lost his job to new werewolf laws, and soon he won't have enough money to pay for his house. He can barely buy food, and his best friend died less than a year ago. Depressed like that."

"Well, did you offer for him to come stay with us?"

"I tried, but he never wrote back…" Sirius sighed, and tied his letter to the owl's leg. "The owl keeps leaving, but he comes back without letters. I feel like he's getting them…but why wouldn't he reply?" Sirius groaned and dropped his head into his hands. "It doesn't make any sense."

"Well, maybe he doesn't have paper?"

"He's not _that_ poor, Lils."

They were silent, thinking of everything that could be wrong, when Aden walked in. Another boom of thunder rang out, this time accompanied by a flash of lightning.

"_Who's _not that poor?" She asked, a pint of muggle ice cream in her hands. She was eating it straight from the container hungrily.

"Aden, don't do that!" Lily said, grabbing the ice cream from her. She set it on the table, where Sirius promptly picked it up and started eating it too. "And it's Moo-Remus. He isn't responding."

"Why not?"

"If we knew, we wouldn't be worrying." Lily said. Jaime woke up right then, rubbing her eyes with her tiny fists. Lily cooed at her, bouncing up and down so she wouldn't cry.

"Well, maybe he's busy." Aden said. "What does he not have a job or something?"

"Right."

"Well, maybe he's busy looking for a job."

Lily frowned at this perfectly logical response, and turned away. Sirius put down the ice cream, and grinned at Aden.

"Thanks, A." He said, getting up and feeling her stomach. This was a random habit of his that had started when Aden told him she was having twins, and now he did it practically every time she walked into the room.

Lily remembered when Aden had told him. She had looked nervous, almost like she was going to vomit. Sirius hadn't reacted badly at all. In fact, he had been so happy he had grabbed Harry and ran around the house shouting, "TWINS!"

They had magically made a room for them downstairs, in the empty space beside the stairs. It was a big room, and they had figured they could just split it in two when they got older. Aden was going to find out the gender in a month, and Sirius was constantly marking down the days on the little calendar in the kitchen.

Harry walked into the room, his black hair tousled from his crib. "Harry!" Lily groaned, walking over to him. "What are you doing out of bed?"

"I don' know." Harry said, putting on his most innocent puppy dog face. It didn't work on Lily.

"Harry, how did you get out of bed?" Lily thought back to make sure she had put up the crib bars securely. She definitely remembered hearing a little click when she had put it up.

"Ummmm…" He looked at Sirius, who shrugged as if to say, _it's your problem, I can't help._ "Cribby fly, Harry walk out."

Lily rolled her eyes, and grabbed his hand. "I'm sure it did. Come on, it's time for bed."

They walked upstairs, Harry looking annoyed the whole way up. They walked into Jaime's room first, which was decorated in all shades of pink. Lily lied her down in her pink lined crib, making sure she was comfortable. "Come on Harry; let's go see if cribby did fly."

They walked into Harry's room, and Lily was shocked to see the crib, lying on its side at the front of the room by the door. She looked at Harry, who gave her an _I told you so _look.

"Harry, did you make cribby fly?"

Harry looked away, walking towards his fallen bear. He didn't answer. Lily groaned and returned the crib to its original position with a flick of her wand, then placed Harry inside of it. "Harry, if cribby flies again, and then you have to sleep in mommy's room. With _no _bear."

Harry looked frightened, grabbing his bear. He nodded solemnly, then laid down, ready to sleep. Lily grinned and walked out of the room, when…

The doorbell rang.

Lily froze. Who could be at the door? She ran quickly, back into the kitchen. Sirius and Aden were also frozen, silently flipping out.

"Aden! Did you tell anyone?" Lily whispered urgently. Aden shook her head slowly, a look of terror passing over her face.

"Did you?" She asked, growing even more fearful.

"Of course not!"

They both turned to Sirius. He gulped.

"I only told one person about our house, and that was-"

The doorbell rang again, cutting him off.

"Lil! Aden! Don't freak out. The fidelius charm is working, and what death eater would ring the doorbell?" Sirius said, and he got up. "I'll go see who it is. It's probably a postman or something."

"At eight o' clock?" Lily whispered to Aden, confused. They followed Sirius, wands extended.

There was even more thunder, and Lily was trembling. She moved closer to Aden. Aden was unfazed and grabbing her stomach, as though her babied could protect her. Sirius opened the door, slowly, and outside was-

_Lupin. Moony._

His hair was soaking wet, falling down to his shoulders. His face was pallid, and thin, as though he hadn't eaten in a while. He was only wearing jeans that had tons of holes in them, and a white shirt that was so old and dirty it had turned grey. He didn't have shoes on, and his brown eyes that were constantly warm and loving, were now cold and wild. He looked like he had been running for days, with no stops.

"Mo-Moony?" Sirius asked. He looked shocked to see his best friend like this.

Lily stepped forward. "Don't just stand there Sirius! Get him inside!" She grabbed Remus, guiding him into the warm house. He was shivering madly. "Aden, go get him a towel. Or three."

Aden rushed into the little powder room, and came out with a thick fluffy towel. Sirius grabbed his wand from the kitchen, and used a spell to warm him.

"Thanks." Lupin finally said, his voice hoarse. Lily sat next to him, looking worried for her friend.

"What _happened_ to you?"

**AN: Cliffhangerrr! I'll try and update again today, because I'm already starting the next chapter.  
>So anyways, I have gotten SO much positive feedback on this story, thank you all! Please continue reading and reviewing. It makes my whole day when I come home and see all the new review alerts, and emails saying people like my writing Xoxo <strong>


	13. Chapter 13

"What _happened_ to you?"

Lupin looked at Lily, his brown eyes filled with sadness. "I ran."

"From who?"

Sirius sat down on the couch opposite them, and Aden walked into the kitchen, coming out with a large glass of some steaming substance."Drink." Aden said soothingly, and he gulped it down quickly.

"What was that?" He asked, the drink warming every inch of his body.

Aden raised her eyebrows suggestively, and said, "Secret family recipe."

Lily groaned and threw a pillow at her. "Seriously, Moony. What happened?"

Remus sighed, leaning back against the couch. "Let's start from the beginning I guess…when James died." Lily winced, feeling horrible for not going to him. But he continued:

"I had just gotten a job at Diagon Alley. I was working at Madam Malkin's, just a bit of a help around the store. There wasn't much to help with, let me tell you, death eaters everywhere. Then, on Halloween, they all just…disappeared."

"Where'd they go?" Sirius asked.

"Well, I found out later on that Voldemort had told them all to go into hiding, to prepare for a big celebration that night."

"How?"

"I have my sources." Remus said, his brown eyes sparkling with mischief for a moment. "But back to the story. I didn't get news of anything for a few months, but…I knew something was up. Death eaters haven't been around that much anymore. I mean, there's the occasional riot or something but…" He sighed. "It's like Voldemort's taking a break."

"A…break?" Aden asked incredulously. She leaned over, resting her head in Sirius's lap. "Right. Like the most powerful dark wizard in the world will take a break."

"I never said I was right, but it's weird." Remus said. "But when I found out about James, like I said, I had known something was up for a while. I hadn't gotten any letters from _anyone_ for a long time, which was weird."

"I'm sorry!" Lily blurted out suddenly, cutting him off. "I-I was so upset! And then there was so much to do, and so much going on, and-and-I just, I-" Her eyes filled with tears, and Remus turned towards her, grasping her hands.

"Its fine, Lily." He said calmingly. "I understand completely. Reality, it can…take control."

Lily nodded her head, looking down so he couldn't see the few tears falling down her cheeks.

"Anyways. I was terrified, to be blunt. I didn't go to work for almost a month. James was dead, and Lily and Harry had disappeared off the face of the Earth. I didn't know what to do. So I continued with everyday life. Worked. Went home. Drank. Got drunk. Slept. Woke up. Drank a special potion, making sure I wouldn't act hungover. Repeat." He sighed. "It was a pretty sorry existence."

Lily groaned, putting her head in her hands. "I made your existence _horrible!_"

Remus looked up at Sirius. "Is she always this emotional?"

"Only when she's pregnant." Sirius responded. Aden smacked his chest, making him shut up.

"Lily, do you want to hear the rest of the story?" Remus sounded like he was coaxing a five year old, but it worked. Lily lifted up her head, still silent. "Anyways, I lost my job about a month or two ago. That old toad, Umbridge, she's been trying to pass legislations against half-breeds for years. Well, she finally got one through, and it put _me _in a very bad situation. Madam Malkin knew about my situation, but now…she was forced to care."

Sirius's fists were clenched, and Lily looked horrified. Aden, who had worked with Umbridge in the past, looked annoyed.

"It wasn't very big though, not now. It just said that 'potentially dangerous' half breeds like me shouldn't be working in close contact with humans. I was forced out of work." Remus looked saddened by this thought, his eyes lifeless and empty. "I had enough money to get by…for about a week and a half. That was when Sirius contacted me. Then I got my house taken away, and…I ran. I knew if I didn't leave soon, Umbridge would somehow get me killed. So I came where Sirius had told me about."

Lily was silent. She couldn't believe that one of her best friends had gone through so much hell in the past eight months and survived.

_Just barely survived. _She thought, looking at him.

He was skinny, way skinnier than usual. His clothes looked way too big for him, and his face was hollow. All Lily wanted to do was stuff food into him and fatten him up.

"Moony that's just…_horrible._" Lily said, looking unnerved. Remus just shrugged and rubbed his head in his hands. Sirius looked disturbed, as though he wanted to kill someone. Aden still looked annoyed, and she sat up quickly.

"That old bat, Dolores!" She said. "I wish I had gotten her out of the ministry when I had the chance…"

Aden had always been friendly with the Marauders, but she was getting a feeling of protectiveness over Lupin now. Maybe it was the fact that he just looked like a lost puppy at the moment, but she was angry.

Upstairs, a baby started crying suddenly. Lily got up, stretching.

"I'll go." She said, straightening her shirt. "She's probably hungry."

Remus stretched out a little, putting his feet on the coffee table between the couches. Then-

"Wait, _she? _Who's _she?_"

"Oh, it's Lily's new kid." Sirius said, grinning at Lupin. Lupin jumped up and chased after Lily, running two stairs at a time. He entered the little pink room, and saw Lily rocking the baby, feeding her a bottle. He stopped, and Lily raised a finger to her lips. The little baby sucked the bottle eagerly, and Lily was murmuring a lullaby under her breath.

Lupin stepped forward slowly, his breath taken away. Lily bounced her up and down a bit, and then turned to him.

"Want to hold her?" She whispered, holding Jaime out. Lupin nodded slowly and reached his arms out. Lily slid her in, careful not to jostle the baby.

Lupin rocked her back and forth a little, marveling at her red hair. Her eyes opened, and Lupin gasped at how shockingly green they were. _She looks just like Lily._ He thought.

"What's her name?" He whispered.

"Jaime." Lily said, smiling and sitting down in the huge chair in the corner. Lupin smiled, looking down at the baby.

"Jaime…" He said, stroking her hair. She wrapped her hand around his finger, and he smiled. "Sounds like James."

**AN: Double chapter update day! Weekends without homework are just great, aren't they? Probably more for you guys, I've been writing all day.  
>I loooooove Lupin. He's adorable. So wonder what's going to happen next? Probably a super boring chapter :P Anyways, what do you want to happen with Lupin? And what should the gender of the twins be? I have a bit of a plan…<br>Please review! I love you all! Xoxo.**


	14. Chapter 14

It was a week later, and nothing had changed.

Well, maybe a little had.

Remus had stayed with them for the next few days, and Lily was growing increasingly worried about him. He slept on the couch at night, but by day he was in the backyard. He never talked, and he was still growing thinner. Lily hated seeing him like that, and begged him to come eat with them each night. But he never accepted, only coming inside to sleep.

Then one day, he disappeared.

"SIRIUS!" Lily screamed, entering the living room that morning. Sirius had simply apparated, too lazy to walk downstairs.

"What?" He muttered, running his hand through his shaggy hair.

"Lupin. He's gone!" She yelled, sinking to the floor. Sirius knelt next to her, putting his arm around her.

"He'll be back." He whispered in her ear. "I promise."

But it had been three days, and he still wasn't back. Lily was furious. She had decided to occupy her time with babysitting Paige, Sarah's daughter. Aden had taken up a full-time job at the bookstore, letting Lily stay home with Jaime. They would switch off once Aden gave birth.

Right now, Paige and Harry were playing in the living room. Lily had let Sarah into the fidelius charm (Not telling the exact details, of course) so she could babysit.

"Harry! Give it!" Paige said, and Lily walked into the playroom.

"No!" Harry yelped back. Lily walked in to the two kids fighting over Harry's stuffed owl.

"Guys, stop!" She said, a little harsher than her usual voice was. She sighed, then said it again, only less harsh.

Paige frowned at her and all of a sudden, the bird was in her hand. Harry yelped and flew backwards, his grip had been released.

"Harry you shouldn't let go so fast." Lily said, and Harry looked like he was going to cry. Lily sighed and sent the kids to opposite sides of the room to play. 

The next day hadn't gotten much better for Lily. Paige was over again, and there was even more drama between her and Harry. Paige seemed to like stirring up trouble.

"Harry, that's _my _toy." She said. Harry glared at her, his bottom lip sticking out in a pout.

"No!" He said. He looked towards Lily, his face pleading. "Mama, it's mine?" He said this in a more questioning way, as though he didn't know what to believe.

"Yes Harry, it's yours. But let's let Paige play with it, okay?"

"No!" he tried to grab the toy from her, but Paige put it out of his reach. Her eyes, usually a bright hazel, seemed to flash a deep, brown-red color. But then they returned to their original hue before Lily could check, and she thought it might just be a reflection of Harry's red and blue-striped shirt.

The doorbell rang, and Lily heard Sirius open it.

"Hello!" Rang out Sarah's voice, and Paige stood up happily, her chocolate brown pigtails swinging back and forth. Her little ringlets bobbed up and down, and she tugged on one of the little pink bows.

"Bye Harry." She said, no sadness at all in her voice that little kids normally had when leaving. She turned to Lily, and hugged her around the legs. "Bye miss Lily!" She said, as her mom walked into the room.

"Hi Lily, thanks again for watching Paige." Sarah said. Her voice was buttery and soothing, and Paige clambered up onto her back.

"You're welcome." Lily smiled. "It's weird; they haven't been getting along very well recently."

"I've noticed these weird mood swings, it's unusual, and not like her at all."

"Well, she's probably just going through a phase. It'll get better soon."

"I sure hope so." Sarah said, bouncing Paige on her back. "Well, I better get back to work."

"Say hi to Aden for us!" Lily called, and then turned back to Harry. "Come on, I think you need a nap." 

The next day, there was nothing.

No babysitting.

Harry was upstairs, napping quietly. Lily had Jaime in a little swing, and she was also asleep. Sirius was upstairs, writing about god-knows-what.

Lily didn't know what to do.

She tried to read _The Prophet,_ but she couldn't get into it. She tried watching the television, but nothing seemed to get her attention. She didn't know what to do.

Then, the doorbell rang.

Lily jumped up, ready for company. Even if it was just the postman. She ran over to the door, and then stopped to smooth out her hair. She opened the door, ready for _actual_ social interaction. And there stood Lupin. Right where he had stood the other night. Lily's mouth formed a perfect O of surprise, and he stepped inside. She shut the door behind him, and he rocked back and forth sheepishly.

"Lily," he started. "I'm s-"

He couldn't even get the words out before Lily started punching him fiercely.

"You complete _arse!_" She yelled, losing it. "How could you just _leave_ me like that?"

"I-I had to." He muttered, while Lily continued to snack him. He dove over to the couch, and grabbed a pillow, trying to shield himself. It didn't work.

"You _HAD_ to?" She yelled. "Yeah, _no."_

"I did!" He said, but not too harshly. He saw how worried Lily had been, behind the anger she was showing right now.

One of her punches landed hard in his stomach, and he fell backward.

Waaaaaay behind her anger.

"Okay, Lily, please just let me explain."

Lily huffed, crossing her arms. "You have a minute."

"Okay, well, it was the full moon a week ago, and I couldn't stay here! I'm sorry, but I couldn't put the kids in danger like that!"

Lily groaned, and sat down next to him. "You could have told me, you know."

"And let you try and stop me?"

"Maybe I was right."

"Naw." Lupin said. "I came back, didn't I?"

"That makes everything _soo_ much better for you, doesn't it?" Lily said sarcastically.

"Not really." Lupin felt where Lily had punched him. "You can be seriously scary, you know that?"

Lily laughed and laid her head on his shoulder. "Yeah."

Sirius walked down the stairs, making sure not to wake the kids. "What's going on?" HE asked, looking down. "Wait-Moony?"

"Don't kill me, Lily already did." Remus put his hands up in surrender. He told Sirius his story, and Sirius gave him a death glare.

"You could have told us, you know."

"I've been told."

"Well, don't do it again." Sirius looked at Remus with wide eyes. "Promise?"

"Promise."

They all hoped the promise would last.

**AN: OMGIZZLE. Three chapters in one day. Of course, this is just making up for chapters that aren't going to be posted over the week. Okay, and would you all be mad if I end up skipping months at a time? There's a **_**really **_**big part I need to get to, but it happens in about…two years -_-  
>Review review review! I write more when I get reviews…**winks** Xoxo.<strong>


	15. Chapter 15

Lily opened her eyes to a bright, breezy July morning. The large white window was open in the corner of the room, letting in a bit of air. On Lily's side, Jaime was nestled into her. Lily stroked her red curls, already falling past her ears. Jaime woke up to her mother's touch, looking up into her eyes and gurgling happily.

Lily smiled and lifted her up, then walked downstairs into the kitchen. Her own red hair was falling out of the messy bun she had slept in, and Jaime attempted to grab the falling pieces. They walked into the kitchen, and Lily placed Jaime in her pink padded high chair while she started making a special breakfast. Today was Harry's second birthday.

Upstairs, Harry woke up about a half hour later. He clambered out of his brand-new big boy bed, and walked into Sirius's room. "Padfo'!" He called, running to the bed. His little blue blanket trailed behind him, making him look like a superhero as he bounced onto the bed.

"Ah, Harry…" Sirius smiled and rolled over. "Happy birthday."

Harry smiled and bounced some more. "Up! Up! Up!" He shouted. Sirius groaned and rolled out of bed, and Harry climbed onto his back. They walked down to the kitchen, Harry laughing the whole way.

"Happy birthday!" Everyone chorused as they entered the room.

"All for me?" Sirius said jokingly. He plastered a huge, cartoon-like grin on his face and became mock-surprised. "You shouldn't have…"

"We didn't" Lupin said, taking Harry and setting him down in his high chair. Lily brought out a big white cake, frosted and saying _Happy Birthday Harry_ in big blue letters.

"Whoa Lily, did you do all this yourself?" Sirius asked, staring at the cake hungrily.

"If you count using my wand for everything, then yeah, I did." Lily smiled and set down the cake. She cut out five pieces, and sent them to everyone in the room. Paige sat in the corner, sucking on a bottle happily. Aden brought out pancakes, giving Harry extra whipped cream on his. Remus ran into the other room and grabbed the camera he had bought a week ago. He had become the family's photographer, taking pictures of everything that went on in the house. Everyone ate hungrily, talking and laughing.

"Post's here!" Sirius called, running to the door. His dishes flew behind him and into the sink, where they started washing themselves.

"How did he hear that?" Lily whispered to Aden.

"I married a dog." Aden rolled her eyes and ate another bite of cake.

Sirius walked in, throwing the mail onto the counter. "Muggle magazines, more magazines, bills-Why are we getting bills?" He asked Lily. Lily shrugged, and he frowned and went back to sorting. "We shouldn't be getting bills, we're wizards…."

"Yeah, being a wizard should get us special privileges." Lily said sarcastically.

Sirius frowned, stopping at a letter. He slid it over to Lily, and Lily looked confused. She opened it up slowly, as though it was a bomb about to go off.

_Lily,_

_I heard about what happened. I'm visiting on Harry's birthday._

_~Petunia_

Lily made a sour expression. "Who is it?" Aden asked, sending her plate to the sink.

"Petunia."

"Why?"

"I don't know. Her letter was two sentences long." Lily said, looking annoyed.

"Well, here's another letter." Sirius said, looking up from the one he was reading. Lily grabbed it and started to read.

_Dear Lily, Remus, Sirius, and Aden,_

_I haven't heard from any of you in the longest time, but now I have an excuse to write. I realize, Lily, you might not want to speak to your sister. I however took the liberty of telling her your situation and convincing her to visit. You two need to keep in contact, as she is your only family left._

_Also, please keep in touch. I would love to see how to family is doing. I wish Harry a happy birthday._

_~Dumbledore_

Lily finished reading it to everyone, and Aden groaned.

"Just what we need," She started. "House guests!"

Lily rolled her eyes. "Petunia _isn't _a house guest. She's a monster."

Aden ignored her, waving her wand into the playroom and making all the toys put themselves away. "You take Jaime, and I'll take Harry. We'll get them dressed and ready to go."

"What, are we trying to impress Petunia?"

"Uh, yeah."

"Why?"

"She's your sister." Aden grinned evilly. "She just _has_ to be jealous."

Lily rolled her eyes at this and walked upstairs with Jaime, secretly agreeing.

The next half hour was spent cleaning and getting ready, everyone trying to make themselves look presentable.

"Sirius let me cut your hair." Aden had begged him.

"No."

"But I could make it look so cute and-"

"Aden, no."

Aden had glared at him, and when he left she muttered, "I'll get my way."

Lily knew she would, but didn't dare ask how. She went back to attempting to put Jaime's hair up in pigtails. Harry ran in, his black hair sticking straight up. He looked around, presumably for somewhere to hide, but then Lupin ran in behind him.

"Harry, I need to brush your hair." He said calmly. Harry ducked behind Lily.

"No!" He put his hands on top of his head, trying to flatten it.

Lupin sighed. "I swear he's more like James than we give him credit for."

"No, James would be making it messier."

"I think that's his goal."

Harry had crawled under the crib now, hiding from the hairbrush. Lupin gave up and walked out of the room, Lily giggling as he left.

"Aden!"

Lily looked up and saw Sirius chasing Aden down the hall. She waved her wand, tying two bows around the pigtails, and followed them out.

Sirius had Aden pinned up against the wall, and she was giggling madly. Lily laughed. Sirius's hair was cut, and although it had been done well, he seemed upset. It fell over his ears, and it was definitely a good three inches shorter than it was before.

"Sirius, come on, it looks good!" She protested her wand in front of her.

"Yeah, sure. Grow it back."

"Never." Aden laughed, and ducked under him. Even though she was pregnant, she was still small and petite, and she ran quickly away from him.

Sirius turned towards Lily. "How does it look? Honestly?"

"Good." Lily said. Sirius turned towards the mirror in the hallway, and groaned.

"Come on. I can't make _this _work!"

"You've never made _anything_ work, Padfoot." Lily laughed. Harry ran out and jumped on Sirius's leg.

"No brush! No brush!" He yelled, clinging onto him.

Sirius looked at Lily. "We've entered 'the James' stage, I think."

All of a sudden, the doorbell rang. Aden yelped and rushed downstairs, and told all of them to follow. Sirius walked down behind her, Harry still on his leg. He rubbed his hand through his hair uncomfortably. Remus followed him, going through recently developed pictures. Lily smacked them out of his hand, saying Aden would kill him for being distracted. She carried Jaime in one arm while fixing her hair with the other.

Lily pushed to the front of the crowd, handing Jaime to Aden. Then she opened the door, where Petunia stood uncomfortably.

She had her wispy brown hair down, and it fell to her shoulders blandly. Her big brown eyes looked worried, and almost frightened. She was wearing a flowery dress, and in her hands she held a little box.

"Hello Petunia." Lily said, a bit stiffly. Petunia mumbled something that sounded somewhat like a greeting back, and Lily ushered her inside. She stepped in, observing everyone nervously.

"Hello." Aden said, slightly hiding Jaime behind her. Petunia shook her hand silently, then turned to Lupin. She shook his hand silently also, looking even unhappier.

"Hey." He grinned at her, awkwardly holding out his hand. She looked at it as though it was something putrid, but shook it unwillingly. She looked down at Harry, who grinned at her.

"Hello!" He said excitedly, not letting go of Sirius's leg. Petunia grinned a little at him, and held out the little box.

"I brought you something." She said. Harry untangled himself, and stretched up to get the box.

"Mama! Open it!" He said, bouncing up and down excitedly. Lily opened it slowly, and inside the wrappings was a little stuffed bear.

"Ooh," Harry's eyes widened, and he grabbed the bear.

"Well, I know what he'll be playing with for the next week." Lily said, smiling at Petunia. She grinned a little bit back, still looking uncomfortable.

"Who's this?" She asked, looking at Jaime. Jaime peeked out at her, studying her with big green eyes. Petunia gasped, and looked at Lily. "Is she-"

"Yes." Lily nodded slowly. Petunia's eyes widened, and she looked at Lily with a questioning expression.

"I guess you have a lot of questions." Aden said, sitting on the couch and patting the space next to her. "Come on, and we'll answer them."

Petunia sat down next to Aden, relaxing a little.

"Ask away." Lupin said, clasping his hands together. Lily sat next to him, holding Jaime in her lap.

"What happened?" Petunia said quickly, as though she had just been waiting to ask this.

Lily looked towards Sirius, and sighed.

"It's a long story."

**AN: Okay, no more of the scene with Petunia because I'm a lazy butt and have no urge to write about her. I really don't enjoy Petunia at all.  
>Anyways, don't expect super frequent chapter updates. I might have them, I might not. Also it's going to be basically skipping ahead to just important dates for about two years :P<br>Please review! Xoxo.**


	16. Chapter 16

It was November fifth.

Lily sat at home, watching Harry play with Paige. They had finally started getting along better, which was good because of Lily's frequent babysitting. Paige had calmed down slightly, still throwing _huge_ temper tantrums when she got angry, but Lily figured it was just a phase.

Lupin walked into the room, holding Jaime in his hands. "I think someone's hungry." He said. "I heard her crying and brought her to you."

Lily smiled and took Jaime from Lupin, walking into the kitchen. "Watch them while I feed her." She called, and Lupin sat down and started going through some pictures. They had started making copies for Dumbledore, and Lupin always wanted to give him the best ones possible. Ever since he had moved in, though, the house had gained quite a few more pictures everywhere.

"Have you heard back from Aden and Sirius yet?" Lupin asked Lily

"No," Lily walked back into the room. "I'm worried. How is Sirius going to manage on his own?"

"I think you gave him a little taste of what it's like."

"Aden is going to be worse, trust me."

Lupin laughed and handed her the pictures. "What do you think?" He asked.

Lily looked through all the pictures, smiling. The first one was on Harry's birthday, and he was about to blow out the candles on his cake. He would look up at the camera and smile, and then he would pull Lily into the shot too before blowing them out. The second was after they had gotten the new playhouse, and Sirius was inside, pretending to cook and looking happier than ever. Harry was standing outside and waiting to play in it for the first time. The third was Lily and Aden, sitting on the porch swing and laughing. Lily was holding a four month old baby Jaime, and she was sleeping.

"Wow, Aden and I actually look civilized here." Lily acted fascinated.

"I try and catch the few times that actually happens." Lupin smiled and took back the pictures.

Lily glanced over at the clock, then back at Harry and Paige. "Time for naptime!"

"Awww." Harry and Paige said together. Lily led them upstairs, getting Harry into his bed and putting Paige on the mattress they had for her.

Lily walked into her room, rubbing her eyes. She was tired too, and laid down for a second. Surely, it wouldn't be a bad thing to just get a little rest…she wouldn't fall asleep…

_She was running down the hallway. She heard the bang of a body hitting the staircase, and she looked down._

"_James!" Was the scream that pierced the night, and a cold, eerie face glared up at her. Lily ran into the room, trying to guard herself. _

_But it was too late. The door flew open, and the large, pale figure stood before her. She saw the bright red eyes that haunted so many, hiding underneath a large hood. She dropped her son in the crib, begging, pleading-_

_He had no mercy. He raised his wand; Lily knew she was going to die-_

Lily's eyes flew open.

She was drenched in sweat, and she was lying in bed, shaking. Why-what had just happened? She looked at the clock, realizing she had been asleep for almost an hour. What had woke her up?

A small rustling noise from her right made her turn, and she saw Paige going through her drawers.

"Paige!" She said sharply, sitting up. Paige ignored her, still rummaging through the drawer. "_Paige."_ Lily said sternly. Finally, she turned around, a blank expression in her eyes.

"What's this?" She asked, holding up Lily's fake driver's license. Lily was on it, but with brown hair and a few different facial appearances.

"It's, erm, my…sister's driving license, sweetie." Lily got up, and put it back where she found it.

"Looks like you, a little." Paige's eyes seemed like they were studying Lily, even though they were still blank, almost empty-looking.

"Well, it's my sister." Lily finished the conversation. "Why don't you go back to bed, sweetie, you look tired."

Paige nodded slightly and walked out of the room, her dark curls bouncing while she went. Lily pressed her hand to her forehead and leaned back onto the bed.

_What had brought back the old nightmare?_ Was the recurring thought that ran through her head. _I haven't had it in months, and suddenly…it's back?_

Lily was worried. Was this a sign, or merely an old, blocked out memory trying to come back to her? The shock of seeing James die again was enough to rattle her, but then she had to see Voldemort too…she groaned.

Lupin walked in right then, and was taken aback by the expression on Lily's face. "Lil-are you okay?" he asked urgently, sitting down next to her.

Lily nodded a little, not fully convinced she was okay. Lupin obviously didn't believe her. He summoned something quickly, and handed it to Lily.

"Chocolate?" She asked weakly, laughing.

"Works on everything." He said, looking pleased with himself. Lily took little bites out of it, and Lupin pushed her messy curls off her forehead. "Now, what happened?"

"Old nightmare, seeing my husband die again, having some kid go through our stuff and almost figure out the cover story, no big deal." Lily said, deciding she wasn't elaborating at all.

"Lily, you're incredibly stubborn, you know?" Lupin said, as though he was reading her mind. "You _can_ tell me the whole story."

"But I don't want to."

"Stubborn." Lupin almost sang this, and Lily glared at him.

"It's nothing."

"Stubborn."

"Oh, shut it!"

She grabbed a pillow and smacked him with it, forcing him to fall backwards, and then he was lying next to her.

"So you won't be telling me?"

"Not today."

He frowned, making his best puppy dog face at her. She smacked him with the pillow again.

"_Not _today."

Lupin looked like he was about to say something, but then the doorbell rang. Lily sighed, and got off the bed. "I'll get it, it's probably Sarah," She said, smoothing out her hair and clothes. "You go wake up Paige."

He saluted, and marched out of the room. Lily rolled her eyes at him and walked downstairs, secretly giggling.

"Hi Sarah!"

"Hello." Sarah said, walking in. She shook her boots a little, and Lily noticed how wet they were.

"Is it raining?" Lily asked, looking outside. She hadn't noticed how bad the weather had gotten.

"Yeah, and it's a big storm too." Sarah looked annoyed by this.

"Well, it should get better soon."

"I hope."

There was an awkward pause between them, which was broken by Lupin bringing Paige down the stairs. She was giggling madly, holding onto his hair and pretending he was a horse. They finally got down, and he handed her off to Sarah.

"Mama!" Paige said, hugging her mom tightly. Sarah smiled.

"We should go." Sarah said. "Tell Aden I said congratulations."

And off they went, into the cold.

"Someone's in a bad mood." Lupin observed.

"I think she's annoyed me and Aden both won't be working for a while." Lily said. "I bet she's still happy to get my free babysitting service, of course…"

"You're just _too_ sweet."

"I know." Lily smiled at him. "It's part of my charm."

**AN: See what I mean by skipping months? **four months later, no big deal I won't even tell you what happened before because it was boring...** Just an awesome writer right here.  
>Oh, and I'm thinking of doing a Dramione fan fiction along with this one. What do you guys think?<br>Please review! I love you all. Xoxo.**


	17. Chapter 17

Minerva McGonagall ran her hands over her stiff black bun. She was attempting to grade about a hundred transfiguration papers by hand, in one day. She couldn't use magic on these, and it was almost time for dinner.

She looked through the paper of Bill Weasley, trying to finish grading it. Her quill scratched along, making small notes here and there, when a light tapping began. She paused, listening.

_Tap tap tap._

She looked over to the window, and was shocked to see a large barn owl standing there, holding a package. Who could be writing to her? McGonagall walked quickly over to the window, opening it and letting the owl fly in. It flew around for a second, and then landed on the front desk in the classroom.

"Now what do you have?" Minerva thought aloud to the owl. It simply blinked its big yellow eyes, telling her to come and get it.

She quickly untangled the package, and the owl flew away again. It was a very well trained owl, she noticed. Then she looked at the address:

_Professor Dumbledore  
>Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry<em>

It was written down in _very _familiar handwriting. She couldn't place who's exactly it was, but it was odd for Professor Dumbledore to be getting packages.

Then again, what did Dumbledore do that seemed logical?

She looked down at her papers, then back at the package. _I better deliver this now, _she thought. _Wouldn't want the headmaster getting a late package, especially if it's important._

And with that, she rushed out of the classroom, without a second look at the papers.

The corridors were empty, with all the students in their classes. The portraits were busy talking to each other, rushing back and forth between each other and whispering. They all paused to say hello to McGonnagall, who gave each a tight-lipped nod. She had work to do.

She approached the entrance to Professor Dumbledore's office, murmuring "Chocolate Frogs" to make it spin open. The stairs appeared, and she walked up them, still grateful to be getting out of grading papers.

Professor Dumbledore was sitting quietly at his desk. A tiny red bird swung happily next to him, chirping a little song. He was looking through a book, murmuring, "No, not there, no, the three…" He looked up, and saw Minerva standing in front of him.

"Why, Minerva!" He exclaimed, shutting his book. "What a pleasant surprise, to see you here."

"Thank you, Headmaster. I came to deliver a package; it ended up in my room somehow."

"I see." Dumbledore examined the package, and Minerva swore she saw him smile at it.

"Who could it be from?" She asked, curious. She was always curious about what was going on in the school, for she felt one day, she might have to run it. But Dumbledore was silent, still looking over the package. "Professor?"

He looked up at her, his blue eyes twinkling. "Oh, just a _very_ special book I ordered. Something personal, just to read before I go to bed." He smiled. "One should always read a book before bed. It makes for a peaceful sleep."

McGonnagall looked at him curiously. "I'll have to take that into consideration."

Dumbledore set the package down on the desk. "Maybe you will. However, you should be going down to the Great Hall, Minerva, as it is nearly time for dinner."

She nodded, and stepped towards the door. But, one thing held her back.

"Professor?"

"Yes?"

She paused, not knowing how to put this. "The-the writing on the package, well…it looked like Lily Potter's."

Dumbledore blinked once, the twinkle gone from his eyes for a second. "And so it does!" He looked at the package.

"But, sir, nobody has heard from her in over a year! And good thing, too, the Dark Lord _seems_ to be growing stronger…"

"Yes, Minerva, but trust me. I'm sure all is well with her." He nodded at her, and she took one more step towards the door.

"I-I see, sir. I was merely curious."

"Curiosity is not a sin, Minerva. Remember that." He looked over his glasses at her, and the twinkle was back. She smiled at his, a rare, thin smile, and walked downstairs for dinner.

Dumbledore, however, was staying. He sat down at the desk quickly, and opened up the package. A small letter fell out, and so did a stack of pictures.

_Dear Dumbledore,_

_Hello sir! You asked us to stay in touch, as we sent you some pictures, so you_

_**Don't forget to mention I took them.**_

_Moony! I'm getting there! Anyways, sir, sorry. I have someone looking over my shoulder as I write…so, we sent you some pictures that Moony took, so that you can see how everyone is doing. We hope you enjoy them, and_

_**I think you should know that I'm only in around two, because everyone around here is too lazy to pick up the camera when I'm not around.**_

_And we hope to send more! Enjoy, sir, and sorry about Moony's bragging. We're working on him._

_**Gee, thanks.**_

_Love,_

_The clan._

_**(I don't know why she signed it like that…Sorry Professor)**_

Dumbledore chuckled at this playful banter, Knowing how childish both Lily and Remus could act. He dropped the letter, and picked up the pictures.

The first few were from Harry's birthday party. Dumbledore saw all of the gathered around the cake, and saw how well Lily seemed to be coming along. She was carrying a small child, who Dumbledore assumed was the newest addition.

The next set was from Christmas. There was Harry, unwrapping a brand new broomstick. Dumbledore laughed at his facial expression when it was opened. It was obvious he would be like his father one day. The next picture was of the red-haired baby, trying to open a small box. Sirius was walking up behind her, and then stuck a large red bow from one of the presents on her head. The next picture was of Aden, sitting with two babies, obviously twins, and smiling at the camera happily.

The next were just pictures from around the house: Lily painting, Remus and Sirius wrestling, Harry playing with a small, brown haired girl. Dumbledore looked closely at her, wondering who she could be. The child looked up at him, and a sudden feeling of coldness, or emptiness, went through him. He made a mental note to ask who she was.

Besides that, Dumbledore was delighted to see how well they were coming along. But one thing, one little thing, was nagging him in the back of his head. He walked over to a small hidden cabinet, and opened it slowly. Inside was his wand, on top of a silvery fabric. He pulled both out, and examined the cloak.

It was still in perfect condition, just as he had gotten it nearly a year and a half ago. He wondered what to do.

Should he give it back? Did they need it?

What if he found the stone?

He whipped the cloak on, thinking. Would he give it back?

**AN: This chapter sucks. I wrote it in about an hour. Exciting things WILL happen soon, promise!  
>Please review! I love you all! Xoxo.<strong>


	18. Chapter 18

"Happy Apwil Fools!" Harry exclaimed, jumping on Lily. She groaned and turned towards him, rubbing her eyes.

"Happy April Fools," She grinned lazily at him. "What time is it?"

"I don' know." Harry smiled and ran out of the room, and down the hall. "Apwil fool! Apwil fool!" He screamed.

"Lily, would you kindly tell your son to _be quiet_ for another five minutes!" Aden yelled out from her room. "I swear, he's like an alarm clock without a snooze button…"

Lily rolled her eyes at her and slid out of bed. She walked into the hall, and Harry zoomed by on his little toy broom. Lily grabbed the tail, and Harry lurched forward, trying to stay on.

"Come on my little Quidditch player." Lily said, steering him around. "Let's go downstairs."

Harry giggled with joy, flying down the stairs. Lily cursed the day Sirius ever decided to get him that for Christmas. Upstairs, Aden was still trying to fall back asleep, but having difficulty, knowing she would have to get the babies soon anyways. Today she was visiting Melissa again, because she had a baby boy a few months back. She rolled over and looked at Sirius, who was sleeping peacefully.

So she smacked him on the head with a pillow.

"Hey!" He said, bolting up. Aden was laughing, holding her stomach from it. He pushed her playfully, and then shoved her off the bed and onto the fluffy carpet beneath them.

"Ow!" She glared at him, getting up and rubbing her back.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Sirius said, but he still laughed at her, getting up. He wasn't sleepy at all; in fact, he was practically bouncing around the room.

"What did you do?" Aden knew that Sirius would only be _this _happy in the morning if something was up.

He grinned mischievously at her. "You'll see."

Aden looked at him curiously, but she knew not to question what he had done. She didn't think she wanted to know.

They walked downstairs, hand in hand, and Aden flipped her hair into a bun using her wand. They finally separated when they reached the bottom, Aden going to get Maddy and Mackenzie, while Sirius walked into the kitchen. Harry was sitting in midair on the broom and eating a piece of toast, while Lily finished making breakfast.

"Hey." Sirius said, also grabbing a piece of toast from the plate on the island. Lily smacked his hand with the spatula, making him jump and drop it. "What was that for?"

"No toast until everyone's here!" She said, turning back to the pancakes. Sirius stuck his tongue out at her back.

"Why does Harry get one then?"

"What? Harry didn't-" Lily turned around, and saw Harry eating the toast. "Harry! I said no eating!"

Harry giggled, shoving the rest of the toast into his mouth. Lily walked over to him, ready to scold, and he flew away happily. Sirius used this as a good distraction to grab a piece and eat it quickly. Lily cooked in silence for a second, and you could see Harry flying back and forth across the playroom. But then, they heard a yell from the other side of the house, making Lily jump.

"Ah!" She squeaked, dropping the spatula. It sizzled on the pan loudly. "What _was _that?"

Her answer came into the room about five seconds later. Lupin ran in, with only pajama pants on, his shirt off. "SIRIUS!" He yelled, and Sirius started laughing.

"Wait-what happened?" Lily asked, taking the pancakes off the stove.

"Look what he did to me!"

Lupin turned towards the right and showed Lily his arm. On it was a picture of the full moon, and below it, in fancy cursive, said:

_It's my time of the month._

Lily started laughing, harder than she ever had before. The comparison between that and-well, _that _was hilarious to her, Sirius was nearly falling off his chair laughing.

"It's _not _funny!" Lupin said, pulling on a navy shirt. Lily sat down, clutching her stomach and gasping for air.

"I-I-I'm sorry," She started, in between breaths. "I-it's just really f-funny!"

Lupin glared at her, and sat down at one of the stools at the island. "Sirius, when does it come off?"

Sirius shrugged. "I don't know. It's an old spell."

"_What?_" Lupin's eyes widened, and he looked murderous. "I swear, I'm going to get you one day…"

"Have fun trying."

"Oh, I will."

"Shut it, you two." Lily finally got off the stool, and walked over to the pancakes. "You guys are like little kids."

They were all silent, Sirius attempting to steal more toast, while Lupin prodded the tattoo worriedly. As Lily finally took the pancakes off the stove, an owl flew in through the open window.

"Hey, it's Dumbledore's letter!" Lily exclaimed, walking over to the owl. "Or…package?" She lifted up the large parcel and examined it.

"Well open it!" Sirius said, as Aden walked into the room. She was holding the two babies, her hair still up in a bun.

"Open what?"

"You'll see."

Lily frowned at them, and opened it slowly. The package fell open, and a long, silvery material fell out. Everyone gasped, looking at it. Everyone except Aden, that is, who just looked at it curiously.

"Is that-" Sirius started, looking at it with wide eyes.

"It can't be…" Lupin fell silent, looking amazed.

"What is it?" Aden asked, annoyed.

"It's the invisibility cloak. It's James's."

"How do you know that?"

"Dumbledore had it. He sent it to me." Lily explained, reading the letter.

Sirius broke into a grin, looking at it happily. "This is fantastic!"

Lily had to agree. They had this, now anything could happen.

_Anything._

A few hours later, Aden was pulling up to Melissa's house. It had suddenly gotten dark and stormy out, and she was freezing.

She ran up to Melissa's door, hoping she would hurry and open it. She rang the doorbell, and waited. Melissa came to the door, smiling happily.

"Aden!" She exclaimed, holding her own baby. Aden stepped in quickly, wanting to get into warmth. "You okay?" Melissa asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Aden shivered.

"You look freezing!"

"Well, yeah, I guess."

Melissa frowned. "Well, I was hoping we could go to the park, but if you're too cold-"

"Oh, no, no…maybe I could go home and grab a jacket real fast?"

Melissa thought this over. "And leave the babies?"

"Sure, they can just play."

"Okay!"

Melissa put on the huge grin again, and Aden rushed out the door. She drove quickly, not noticing what was going on outside. She stopped when she reached that familiar house, and ran inside quickly.

"Hey Aden!" Lupin said when she walked in. "What are you doing home so soon?"

"Forgot my jacket." Aden looked around the living room, in hopes it would appear. "Do you know where it could be?"

"Probably in your room with your wand."

"Thanks."

Aden tried to walk up, but she barely reached her door before Lily came out, holding Jaime.

"Aden! What are you doing home?" She asked, adjusting the almost one year old baby.

"Forgot my jacket." Aden said stiffly, wanting to get back to her friend.

"Okay, well, Sirius is in there too, just so you know."

"Well, seeing as he's my husband I would _hope_ to find him in there…"

"Okay, okay, I get it. I'm going." Lily walked into Harry's room, where he was now playing with his train.

Aden hurriedly opened the door, and Sirius bolted up. He was lying on the bed, reading _The Prophet. _He opened his mouth to ask her something, probably what she was doing home, but she interrupted him.

"Sirius, have you seen my jacket?" She asked, not in the mood for another discussion.

He nodded his head over at the chair in the corner. "It's on the chair, next to your wand."

"Thanks." Aden grabbed it and pulled it on, and stuck her wand into her tall boot. "I've got to get going now, see you-"

But she never got to finish, because at that moment, darkness fell over the house. They heard Lily, trying to calm the kids, and Lupin ran up the stairs, landing in Sirius and Aden's room.

"What's happening?" he asked worriedly. He inched his way around the room, and held out his wand. "_Lumos!_"

The small bulb lit up the small portion of the room, showing everyone. Aden looked terrified, and Sirius had his arms wrapped around her, trying to comfort her. His wand was in one of his hands still, ready to attack.

"What was that?" Lily ran into the room, cradling Jaime in her arms and holding Harry's hand. His green eyes were wide open, and he was trying to understand what was going on too.

"I don't know, but listen." Remus said.

Everyone fell silent, listening. They could hear rumbling from outside.

"Thunda?" Harry asked, breaking the silence.

"No Harry." Sirius said. "It's not thunder."

And then, the doors downstairs flew open, and they could hear footsteps.

"Sirius," Aden said, her eyes widening. She was frozen, knowing there was something wrong.

And then darkness fell over everyone.

**AN: ACTION TIME! Yeah, I'm just really excited for this next chapter. It's going to be epic.  
>Review please? I'll love you forever? Xoxo.<strong>


	19. Chapter 19

Sirius woke up. He was in a tiny, damp, dark room, strewn on the floor as though he had been tossed carelessly there. A thin white light illuminated the room, but not by much. It was door less, and he scrunched up his face in stress. He couldn't apparate. He banged his fist on the wall, ignoring the stinging pain that came with it.

Aden awoke in the next room over. Her heart was pounding, and she hoisted herself into a sitting position. Her brown hair fell into her face, stringy and wet. She looked into the reflective tiles on the ground, trying to examine her reflection. Her face was a pale white, and she had a large bruise on her chin. Then a banging on the wall made her come closer, inching forward. She was too afraid.

"Hello?" She asked timidly. She had no clue what she was doing, she was acting on instinct. But there was no response. The walls were too thick, she was too quiet. She banged on the wall irritably. "Hello!"

"ADEN!" Boomed a voice. A male voice that she was familiar to.

"Sirius!" Aden pounded on the wall, desperate to get to him. She could hear him doing the same, but there was no luck. They were trapped. She leaned her head against the wall, listening to him moan in agony. She joined him. There was no escape. Slow, hot tears flowed down her cheeks. She was lost, confused, and scared. Alone.

Sirius banged his hand on the wall again. He needed to get Aden out. He could handle whatever was coming but Aden…Aden was different. She was small, fragile, and easily broken. She needed to be protected. His anger bubbled up inside of him. Who could have done this to them? Why?

He knew who would. But he wasn't willing to admit it to himself. He needed to escape.

"Aden! Aden! Listen," He shouted. She perked her head up a little from her slumped position on the ground. "I'm going to get you out of here. And that's a promise."

* * *

><p>Lily Potter awoke.<p>

Her head was throbbing, and she pinched the bridge of her nose between her fingers. Something bad was happening, something horrible. She could feel the cold of the floor seeping through her thin shirt, and she felt stiffness in her back, telling her she had been lying there for a while.

But where was she?

Her green eyes fluttered open, and they widened considerably. Because she was in the most amazing, yet terrifying, place she had ever been in before.

The ceiling rose to about twenty feet high, and it was dome-shaped. It made her feel tiny in comparison. Lily pushed herself up, and she stood shakily. The long hallway stretched ahead of her, for miles it seemed. Behind her, though, was nothing. Just a blank wall, staring at her. Large windows lined the walls to her right, offering a magnificent view of large mountains, black against the dark grey of the rainy afternoon.

This all drove Lily crazy.

Why was she left, _dumped_, on this floor, in a strange place? And where were her kids?

_Her kids._

The fire returned to Lily, taking place of the icy feeling that had haunted her as she got up. But not now. She turned, and looked down the hall, unable to see the end. The fire of her Gryffindor spirit and motherly instinct made her run. She ran down the hall, passing large portraits of many people. Her footsteps rang out loud in her ears, and she looked around for some door, some entrance to a room of sorts. But there was nothing.

"HARRY!" She screamed out, not caring who heard. Maybe then she'd get some _sodding _help. "JAIME!"

No answer. None. She tried to run more, but she couldn't. It felt like a hand was reaching inside her, gripping her insides, telling her to give up. She couldn't give in to it. Her breath quickened, her paces becoming slower. Lily knew there was nothing. Harry was nowhere to be found.

She curled up on the floor. And she cried.

* * *

><p>Sirius was sitting on the floor. His head was leaned against the wall, his hair ruffled from the now constant habit of running his fingers through it. Aden was just on the other side, her eyes closed. Her eyes were puffy, her cheeks pink. She and Sirius were trapped. Apart. And their children were far away. Sirius was far beyond crying, just sitting there, emotionless. The couple could feel each other's presence, and thrived on it. It was all they had now.<p>

There was complete silence. Sirius had banged on the walls for what seemed like eternities, while Aden screamed until her throat was hoarse. They didn't know how long it had been. A room with just a light gave nothing away about the time. So they sat.

And then a door appeared. Sirius jumped up and grabbed the knob, twisting urgently, with no result. Just pain for him, as he was stung sharply the second her grabbed it.

"Shit." He said quietly, waving his hands to cool them. He must have looked pathetic, standing there with burnt red hands and ragged hair.

Then the door creaked open, allowing a black boot to step in. Followed by the long hem of a black, laced dress.

"Bellatrix." Sirius spat at her, as the doorway disappeared behind her.

"Black." The crazy eyes of his cousin looked around the room, trying to land anywhere but on him. She seemed oddly calm, considering the situation he was in. They were both silent, the stubborn resistance to speak first growing between them. Sirius's grey eyes hardened, losing any of the happy mist they still had left.

"Bella, where am I?" Sirius broke the silence. He needed to know.

Bella simply smiled, revealing her crooked, unkempt teeth. Sirius grimaced, seeing how much she had transformed since he had last seen her. "I'll tell you when I want to." She purred, twirling her wand around. Sirius raged silently.

"Bellatrix, tell me, _now._"

"Don't tell me what to do, blood traitor. I may have some questions of my own first."

Sirius glared at her, seething with rage. As if _she_ would get him to answer anything he didn't want to, she had no way to break him. He had dealt with his family for a long time. So he kept quiet, knowing this always made the Black women angry. Surname or not, Bellatrix was still one of them.

"So, you're ignoring me now, are you?" She seethed, clutching her wand tightly. "Fine then, I'll ask what I want."

Sirius stayed quiet.

"Well then, let me ask you this," She hissed in his ear, getting close to his face. "Don't you want to know where your little mudblood girlfriend is?"

_Lily._

"She's not my girlfriend!" Sirius yelled, flinging Bella into the wall with rage. He heard a sickening crunch as her spine took impact, and she glared up at him, her eyes wild. She quickly cast a healing charm, and her heavy-lidded eyes examined his face with curiosity as she got closer. Their noses were almost touching, and he could feel her hot breath on his face.

"You sure?" Her voice was almost a whisper now, soft and smooth. "Then who is?" Aden's frantic banging came from the other room, and they could hear her screaming for Sirius. She must have heard Bellatrix hitting the wall.

"Dammit Bellatrix, tell me where Lily is!" He yelled urgently. Bella simply smiled and shook her head.

"Maybe you should learn not to harm the only person with your answers, cousin." She smiled, a crooked, insane smile. "It might just spoil your only chance of survival." And with that, she made the door appear, and disappeared through it. Her cackle of triumph was lost when she shut the door, but it still rang throughout the room. Sirius lunged for the doorknob, but it was too late. It was gone. Sirius yelled in anger, punching the wall as hard as he could. The impact crushed his knuckles, and he could feel a small trickle of blood seep between them. The light swung violently, and Sirius steadied it, not wanting to lose the only other thing in here.

He sat back against the wall, resting his head. It was over. What would they do?

* * *

><p>Death.<p>

Death must have been worse than this.

Remus was locked up. In a cage. Like the "filthy animal he was" according to the two masked wizards standing above him, making sure he didn't try to escape. How could he? The only way he could was by magic. And he had no wand. He had watched the death eaters take the wands from his struggling friends, and knock them out with strong spells. He had been forced to watch the limp bodies of his friends-his _family-_be tossed carelessly in rooms and corridors, while Harry and Jaime were being carried by two strange wizards. They were smart, and knew not to cry. Crying would get them nowhere but pain.

Pain was familiar now. Lupin had fought, fought to get his friends back from them. But the death eaters had held him back. He had probably had six harsh, stinging spells cast on him as though they were merely saying lumos. Harry and Jaime had been taken somewhere else. And Lupin had been locked in a cage.

"Let me out!" He yelled at the guards, who kicked the cage. Lupin fell against the side, his head banging against the metal bars. The cage was big enough for him to sit in, to lie down in, but not stand in. it was cold in here, and he could feel a sharp wind every now and then ruffle his hair.

He didn't know what to do. If he could steal one of the wands, he could stun them and escape. But the guards were on high alert, looking at him every time he moved. All he could do was sit in pain, feeling the aftershocks of the curses placed upon him when they came. He could hope, hope for Harry and Jaime to be safe, hope that the other s knew what they were doing. But he, he was alone.

What could be worse?

* * *

><p>Lily lifted up her head. She heard footsteps.<p>

She had sat there for what had seemed like hours. The tears had stopped, but she had sat there. Still not knowing where she even was. But then the footsteps came. Lily got up quickly, not wanting anyone to see her. She looked all around the long hallway, but there was no possible place to hide, unless she shrunk down into herself. Maybe if she hoped enough, a door would magically appear.

But no such luck came to her. She saw the wild hair of Bellatrix Lestrange first, as that was the most prominent feature of her whole body. She was followed by Lucius Malfoy, his long hair fallowing just past his ears. His blue eyes, so blue they were almost grey, stood out on his sunken face, and highlighted the dark bags under his eyes. On his right was Avery, whose light brown hair was mussed and greasy. His face was in need of a good shave, and his once bright hazel eyes had become murky and dead. They strode over to the hallway, and then paused in front of it, staring at Lily.

"Here's the little mudblood." Bellatrix said harshly, staring at Lily's defensive form. "Alone, yet still going to attempt to fight us. How…Gryffindor." She spat out the last word as if it were something dirty. Lily stayed silent while Lucius and Avery chuckled softly behind her.

"Come on girl, you're coming with us." Lucius said, while Avery grabbed her wrist. Lily flinched at his touch, instinctively pulling away. He jerked her back roughly, and Lucius grabbed her other wrist. The four trudged down the long hallway, and Lily found that now there were doors. They were all identical, a deep blue shade, but she knew they led somewhere different.

Now they were going up a flight of stairs, which led to a large room. It looked like a living room of sorts, with a large roaring fire in the corner and a few couches around it. Behind the couches was another large window, and Lily saw a great wrought-iron gate closing off the property. It was dreary outside, and a small blackbird flitted by the window quickly. Even _it_ wanted to get out of here.

"Where am I?" Lily asked, breaking the still silence of the room.

"Why should we tell you?" Bellatrix asked harshly, blowing a wisp of hair out of her eye.

"Oh, I don't know," Lily said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "I mean, I wasn't just taken from my home to a random location, knocked out, dumped on the floor, then dragged by a couple of death eaters somewhere completely different."

Bellatrix walked towards her sharply, raising her wand. "Don't _sass_ me, mudblood." She hissed, her eyes glowing. "I'm warning you, any more funny business-"

"Tell me where I am!" Lily shrieked, cutting her off. She was so _sick_ of them pretending she wasn't there. "You-you tell me right now-or I'll…" She trailed off, and Bellatrix laughed. She knew Lily had no way of hurting her. But Lily was reading to prove her wrong. She took all of the fire left in her, and ripped her wrist away from Avery, pulling it back sharply. Avery gasped loudly, falling back a little, and Lily acted quickly. She used all her strength, and _smack!_ Her hand made contact with Bellatrix's face sharply, and she fell to the floor.

Avery grabbed her wrist again, ignoring her struggling against him. Bellatrix got up slowly, and Lily saw a large red mark where her hand had made contact. She looked murderous, ready to strangle Lily-or maybe just anyone in her path. Lily swore that when she got angry, her hair got two times bigger.

"You-you foul little scum!" Bellatrix screamed at her. She walked around her in little circles, slowly, but angrily. She grabbed Lily's red hair, pulling her scalp. Lily gave a little yelp of pain and fright. Bellatrix's pink lips pulled over her teeth in a wide grin, her breath landing on Lily's ears. "Does that hurt you now?" She said into her ear.

Lily bit her lip, trying not to retaliate. She was shaking madly, and her heart was racing at two times the normal rate. Bellatrix came even closer, and Lily bit her lip so hard she drew blood. "I said, does it hurt!" She screamed, and forced Avery and Lucius away. She used her wand to tie Lily up with thick cords, and she fell backwards as they wrapped themselves around her.

"I promised the Dark lord I'd keep you alive," She crouched down next to Lily, speaking slowly. "But once he's through with you, you'll be mine."

Lily laid there, her green eyes frightened and large. She hated this. Bella stood up now, and walked over to Lucius. "It's time. Call him."

Lucius looked frightened, but pulled out his wand shakily. He slowly rolled up his sleeve, and Lily saw the large black tattoo etched into his skin. She winced at it. It was gruesome, a sign of hate. It seemed to move back and forth, as if it were alive on his bare skin. Lucius gulped loudly, and took a deep breath of air.

And then he touched it.

And Lily could feel wind, all around the room. Blowing their hair, stinging their eyes, putting out the fire. She hear it whistling loudly in her ears, threatening to deafen her. A mass of death eaters raced in, grouping up quickly. They carefully avoided her, as though she were something gruesome, meant not to be touched. One death eater paused over her for a second, looking down at her with interest in its eyes. But she barely looked up at it before it was gone, into position.

And their master was coming. Lily was more frightened than ever. She wanted to be back home, in their large house with the crazy family. She wanted to walk by Harry on his little broom again, and be able to hear Remus and Sirius fighting from across the house. She wanted to be safe again.

But she had escaped for far too long. It had been inevitable that she would be caught. She might get lucky again. It was her only hope.

Luck. Against Voldemort.

But she would try. She had done it before, she could do it again. For the sake of the whole family. She would get them all back home, even if it meant risking her own life to do it. It was sacrifice.

She heard the murmuring of the death eaters as the wind died down, and knew he was coming. He would be there in a matter of seconds, and then she would have to face one of the most terrifying things she had ever met. But she would do it.

And a white flash filled the room.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: This is the longest chapter ever. To be continued, because there is literally 3,000 words and six pages, and I don't want to make it too long. This is only, like, half of what I have planned.<strong>

**Also, I'm getting some really good ideas for a Dramione fic. Would anyone read it? I hope I would have some sort of fan base there, but for now I'm sticking to this…**

**Sorry for the longer wait for updating-I am starting to get more schoolwork now. But the weekends are my writing time, my parents think I'm some sort of hermit by the way I never come out of my room.**

**Please review! I tried a different sort of writing, with more description and such…do you like it? It definitely makes it longer…**

**p.s.: for any whovians out there, with the whole Sirius/Aden scene, I was totally modeling it after Doomsday. Guilty :X Xoxo.**


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